Mercurial
by ninanna
Summary: Aomine Daiki is enjoying a night of perfect solitude at the police station during Christmas Eve but his peace is soon interrupted by a mercurial blond, very much drenched in the rain and perhaps a little scared, very captivating nevertheless.
1. Chapter 1

_I suck at writing oneshots so I am trying to improve my skills at it and what better way than to practice with my most favourite silly dorky couple? :)_

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><p>Aomine Daiki was enjoying the rare night of pure silence and serenity at the station. Christmas Eve did not only mean the most peaceful night duty of the year, but also extra pay and thus had become his favourite, actually his sole favourite, night duty in the whole year. In the last few years he had signed up for the duty on Christmas Eve every time that now they assigned it to him without asking.<p>

But really, what could he ask for? A silent office, nobody disturbing him as he looked through the newest issue of his favourite gravure magazine and sipped some delicious coffee he himself brew and did not have to share with anyone.

He would soon learn though that he should not have expressed such appreciation of his current luck, because like always he had jinxed it. A completely wet mop of blond hair was the first to be seen through the door of the office, which was devoid of anyone but Aomine; not that Aomine realised the head that was timidly looking around. When the honey coloured eyes came upon the only police officer in the whole flat, currently reclining as if he was lying down on his chair, a cup in one hand, a magazine in the other, under a soothing light – the other tables had their lamps turned off, their chairs empty – a scream of relief escaped the lips of the blond male:

"Oh! There is indeed someone! What a relief!"

His voice was high pitched and too loud and caused Aomine who had been so focused on the pictures of barely clothed women on his magazine to freak out and wince for a moment, completely not expecting a visitor nor such a loud exclamation in the silent serenity of his night duty.

"Uh? What are you doing here?" was his first reaction as he sized up the blond who had rushed in front of his desk by now. He was a young man around his own age mid to late twenties probably, blond with a slightly long hair cut, he had honey coloured eyes, full lips, a blue earring on one of his ears, and was quite tall and well built. He was also wearing what seemed to be expensive and fancy clothes, not that Aomine was an expert in clothes, bulk of his own wardrobe was of black tshirts and sweatpants. Oh, and the man in front of him was completely drenched. Must have been walking in the rain. Why would anybody walk in the rain? In a cold Christmas Eve, too.

"Um... I think I am being stalked."

Aomine raised an eyebrow at that; he had never gotten a complaint of a man being stalked. Not that it was completely unseen, but it was rare, he had to admit that when it came to being perverted stalkers men were more likely to be perpetrators than victims. But then perhaps the stalker here was a man too; the blond was extremely good looking even in wet clothes and slightly shaking from cold. He had a very pretty face and an athletic body. Aomine had his bicurious phase as a teenager and he could guess the type of man in front of him would be very popular with both men and women. Not that stalkers or perverts necessarily targeted beautiful people; anybody could become the target of such deranged, obsessive individuals. This was out of ordinary, nevertheless.

"Ah... you... you don't believe me? But I really am!"

His voice was a little desperate and so was his gaze and Aomine felt a little guilty for causing man to feel distrusted,

"I did not say I do not believe you. It is the victim's report that we base our suspicions on. If you are saying you are being stalked, I believe you."

The blond gave a sigh of relief and sat onto one of the chairs that was in front of Aomine. Realising that there would be no quick end to this, Aomine sighed, not of relief but of disappointment of his perfect peace and "me time" being invaded like this, and put down his magazine. His duty was calling after all.

"So what happened exactly?"

"I was having fun with friends in a bar. I did not drink much though, was only slightly tipsy when I left the bar..."

"It wouldn't make a difference even if you were drunk. I am guessing you did not drive, which is good."

"Oh, of course not! Drunk driving! Oh God, no, never. I hate irresponsible people like that. I took a cab. My house is in this neighbourhood and I was not feeling very well, so I got off a bit early and you know wanted to vomit in a trash can or something, breath a bit. Then maybe walk home..."

Kise sighed and felt that inside of his mouth was very dry, considering how wet rest of his body was it almost seemed like a miracle; a very irritating miracle nonetheless.

"Um... can I get some water? My mouth feels dry and funny..."

Kise's eyes were stuck on the cup of coffee that was giving off alluring fumes into the cool air though and Aomine could not ignore it,

"Do you want a cup of coffee as well?"

"Ah! If you can, God that would be amazing!"

"Sure."

Less than five minutes later Aomine was back with a cup of coffee and a glass of water; in all honesty, he hated serving people who came to the station. But then, he could not help being extra nice to victims and he also could not help it considering how wet and cold the man in front of him was. It also was not very irritating to see how happy he got at just a cup of coffee either... "_It is only a cup of coffee, for God's sake_" Aomine thought as he sat back.

"Oh My God! This is delicious!"

"It is just coffee."

"But it is delicious! Did you actually brew it?"

"Yes."

"Wow! You are so talented! I suck at these things... I once got a really expensive espresso machine as a gift, you know with full set of features and accessories and stuff, like those they use at coffeehouses. But I sucked at using it so much, almost burnt my hand once, finally I had to return it and instead got one of those machines where you just press a button and your coffee is ready but it is really tasteless. I mean it is okay usually, does the job, but you know nothing like this. This is so good."

The childish excitement and cheer the man showed was just too much for Aomine, he was not sure if the man in front of him was simply mocking him or was being sincere but then there was such an obvious sincerity to his dilated pupils and slightly reddened cheeks and excited voice that Aomine really could not doubt his sincerity. "_Perhaps he is one of those_" he thought, "_one of those guys who are all bubbly and happy go lucky..._"

"So you were talking about your stalker?"

The cheerful excitement on young man's face was erased in an instant and his lips pressed together in a subtle scowl, his eyebrows furrowed, his gaze intensified, trying to remember every detail of what happened.

"It was then I realised that there was actually a car behind the cab, that car had stopped too with the cab. I tried to find a trash can near by... you know, to vomit a bit, to just calm down my stomach and thought that the car thing, it must be just my imagination. But then I realised the car just did not move. And when I got a little further away, finally found a trash can, I looked back and saw a man getting out of the car. Luckily, I was in a crowded street, I tried to calm myself down saying that it was just coincidence..."

Kise paused for a second and took a large sip from his coffee, the hotness must have hurt his mouth that he gave a hurt look for a split second and opened his a mouth just a tad bit larger to breath in more air, then he quickly gulped down some water. Aomine was not sure just how and why the man was so expressive or just why the heck he found these small expressions to be so interesting.

"I continued walking, keeping an eye on the man at my peripheral vision, and he just kept on following me. I could not discern how his face looked or anything at all, it is dark you know and then it started raining too. I was not sure what to do, I took a sudden turn into another street and he did too. I did again and he followed. It was getting really scary and I was not sure what to do and I was being... well drenched in the rain and it is cold outside you know, I thought of confronting him but well... I was once told that such confrontations are not good. In any case, I am really not good at confronting people. Then I remembered that there was a police station nearby, so I came here but you know the street in front of the station is rather deserted so I was really scared. The police officer who was at the cubicle at the entrance told me to go upstairs but it seemed the whole place was empty, so I was relieved to find you here!"

"Whoever told you that confronting stalkers like that is no good, told you good. It is good that you came here; you should never confront them yourself. Station is unusually empty because of the timing... you know, Christmas Eve."

"Ah! Yeah... makes sense. And well, it was police who told me that actually."

"You had previous encounters with stalkers?"

For some reason the blond man felt shy at that,

"Yes..."

"You don't have to feel shy. It is not your fault."

The blond man blinked a few times and a nice smile adorned his face,

"You are right. I wish everyone thought like you."

"Well... they should. Could this man be the same as your previous stalker?"

"I don't think so... I have had quite a few stalkers. I am actually... a model. Since my career launched I have had more troubles like this."

"Ah I see..." Aomine said and he thought "_I knew it! His face looks so familiar..."_

He looked at the man in front of him intently, just where could he have seen him before? Maybe on a billboard? Or a commercial on TV? Or perhaps a magazine? Not that he read any magazines other than those of gravure models. He had not been aware that his intense gaze had caused the blond to become rather timid,

"Um... are you a fan?"

"Huh? Ah, no way" Aomine snorted at that almost immediately and this caused the timid face of the man in front of him to turn into a sour one,

"I see. Your interests seem... _different_, yeah." Blond gave a mockingly curious look at the gravure magazine on Aomine's desk and then to Aomine himself, a very judging look.

Aomine did not like being judged on his tastes but then he did not care much about it either, so he shook his shoulders a bit in indifference and instead rummaged through his cabinet to find a form.

"Here, fill this up."

"Thanks... Um... Is there anything I can change into? Or at least a blanket or jacket or something?"

"Huh?"

"I am drenched. If you have not realised it. And it is rather... cold here?"

Aomine nodded his head and went to find something, anything for the man to put on. Luckily, his partner, Kagami Taiga almost always kept a clean pair of sweatpants and jersey at the office and sizing up the man from behind once more Aomine was sure that their builds were close enough for it to be a good fit. He also found a small blanket and brought them.

"Where can I change?"

"You can use the toilets, at the end of the corridor, over there." Aomine pointed as he looked through the form; it was only half filled so far.

"_Couldn't he write faster?_" he cursed inside a bit, giving a yearning look at the Horikita Mai who was on the cover of his much loved magazine; he had waited in line to get this one...

The blond changed much faster than Aomine thought he would, he was back just a few minutes later.

"Sorry, I had not finished filling up the form yet." When Aomine lifted up his gaze he had to admit that he had never seen those stupid department issue jersey-sweatpants pairs to ever look so good on anyone. Hell, if department made this guy model for them in those, perhaps more people from the police force would actually start wearing them instead of throwing them to the rubbish bin the first day they are received. He was right in the sizing as well; even though the man had a beautiful face with what one would call feminine features, a thorough and thorough "pretty boy", his body was quite athletic. It was not an easy feat to fit so well into Kagami's size, indeed in the whole station it was only Aomine and Kagami who had similar builds, everyone else was at least 2 sizes smaller.

As these thoughts went through his mind, the man had already sat down to his spot back again and was filling up the form silently, except the few gulp sounds he made as he sipped from his coffee. It felt odd that he was silent. For God's sake, why was Aomine thinking that this was odd? He had no clue; he did not know this man, he had met him only like what, fifteen minutes ago? Half an hour at top, why was he all of a sudden thinking that the blond was "_unusually_" quiet? How can you decide somebody to be acting "_unusual_" if you don't know how they are "_usually_"? He was being delusional. Unnecessarily involved. "_Hmm... Is it because of the comment I made?_" he could not help but think, these models and celebrities, they could sometimes be very capricious, especially when somebody could not recognise them. Well, their job depended on them being known so it was not a surprise perhaps; Aomine had experience with this, he had been assigned as a bodyguard to some idol once, it had been the worst assignment of his whole career. But then the man in front of him did not look so egotistic or arrogant or spoiled. He should have welcomed this silence but somehow it was disturbing him. Then it hit him.

"Haagen-Dazs!"

"Huh?"

"You were in that Haagen-Dazs advert. They put it on huge billboards at the subway station two blocks away."

"Oh..." The blond's face quickly donned a shy blush and Aomine was puzzled why the man was being shy, after all he had only commented on something about his work as a model. One thing to note though was that the blush rather suited him beautifully; his skin was so pale, perhaps even more pale tonight due to the cold wetness of the rain it had to endure as well as the chill of the December night... Thus the shades of pink and red blinking over his cheeks and up somehow felt like a natural adornment.

"My best friend loves that ice-cream so we eat it a lot. That's why..." Aomine tried to explain though he was not sure why was he explaining in the first place however a giddy smile had already taken over the previously silent and slightly stoic face of the blond.

"I really liked working on that project! I like that ice-cream a lot too. Especially their dark chocolate ones... Oh and the strawberry too. I cannot eat much though..." he mumbled as he returned the now filled form to Aomine who reviewed it carefully.

"This looks good..."

"Can I ask a favour?"

"Yes?"

"Can I stay a bit more?"

Seeing Aomine's puzzled face, the blond – who was apparently named Kise Ryouta, now Aomine knew, thanks to the form, and felt rather stupid for not asking the name of a person reporting a crime in the first place, for God's sake, it was basics, it was one of the things they were taught as cadets, why was he acting so stupid tonight – tried to explain:

"I am afraid the man might still be hiding outside... for me to get out, you know."

Aomine thought for it a for a second, well, he had not planned to ask the man to go home by himself anyway; both the protocol and Aomine's own code of ethics dictated taking him home in the face of the current danger.

"I was going to take you home actually. In this kind of cases, we do not let the victims to go home by themselves anyway."

"Ah thanks... But can we leave a bit later then?"

Aomine was really puzzled now; why did a model want to spend more time in a partially deserted police station in Christmas Eve?! With him of all people?! Aomine was a proud man but even he knew that he was not good company. Didn't this man have a girlfriend to go home to? Even if he didn't, he could probably easily get one. Like, in a minute. He could literally enter a bar, ask for a girl for the night, and at least a few women would be game. He had the face and the body and Aomine had seen enough of his gestures to understand that this was a charming man. Seeing the confusion on Aomine's face, Kise tried to explain further,

"I am... afraid. Of going out right now. Even with someone. I don't think I want to be home alone either... in darkness and rain and stuff too. I just don't feel good... about it."

He gave a helpless sigh and the distress could be clearly read from his eyes; it must have been hard to admit it. Aomine felt stupid and insensitive for making the guy admit it.

"If you want to stay here a bit more, better for me, since it is still raining. Forecast says it should get better in a few hours. We will maybe go... near dawn?"

It was past 2 am anyway, Aomine thought. And he had to stay at the station, awake, till morning anyway. Then he realised that he would not be able to reunite with his beloved magazine and serene solitude if the bubbly blond stayed till the morning and he swallowed hard, "_damn_" he thought, why was he sacrificing so much for this stranger? Well, it was his duty calling too. He was just being a good and dutiful officer, he wanted to think.

Then, in a second as he saw the various changes Kise's face went through, and thought that regardless of the talk of duty or honour or how attractive Horikita Mai was in that red swimsuit, he had done the right thing. The blond in front of him went from helpless and distressed, to content, to happy, to excited, to almost crying with joy; his lips were in a big smile that showed even his teeth and how was this possible, why was even his teeth so perfectly shaped and pure white, and his eyes almost sparked with glee. It was like a child on the morning of Christmas and then it was kind of Christmas and Aomine did wonder what kind of a face did this man make as a child on Christmas mornings, if they celebrated the whole thing like Americans did...

"Thank you! Thank you very much Aominecchi!" The man exclaimed, his voice pitch higher than before, excitement clear in every syllable and all Aomine could say in response was,

"What? What did you call me just now?"

"Huh? Um... in this tag here on your table it says Aomine Daiki."

"Yes."

"So? Aominecchi?"

"It says Aomine Daiki. It does not say Aominecchi."

Blond simply laughed at that, a wholehearted and careless laugh; how could his emotions change so much so fast? Kise Ryouta was surely mercurial and Aomine thought that it somehow suited the man.

"Obviously it is not, but I... I just wanted to give a nickname I guess."

"Why would you do that?" There was some surprise and a lot of despair on Aomine's face as he asked that and Kise seemed to find this even more humorous, he crossed his legs and answered and Aomine thought even crossing his legs like that suited this man,

"I don't know. No particular reason I guess." He said, smiling, and hell there must have been a particular reason, his eyes hinted at a particular reason, Aomine was just not sure what it was. Perhaps it was this man's hobby to play around with people's names to mock them. Perhaps he gave nicknames based on some weird categorisation and there was some hidden meaning, a hidden set of categories now Aomine was associated with, but he did not know and why did he care about this in the first place? Why was he losing his ever-present coolness and indifference so frequently tonight?!

He sighed. And with a sigh went all the weird thoughts that had quickly accumulated in his mind regarding the nickname. His coffee had grown cold. So he got up,

"You are going?"

There was almost fear in the honey orbs and Aomine thought to himself, "_mercurial, indeed_" – one minute Summer, in the next Autumn – he raised the cup in his hand,

"Going to get another cup."

"Oh, can you get one for me too? Pretty please?"

Did Aomine look like a person who would do things because of "pretty please"? Was this man just mocking him? Was he trying to drive him mad? First stupid nicknames and now was Aomine going to be his personal waiter, for what, a set of ridiculously large and cute puppy eyes and "pretty please"? Aomine sighed and grabbed the cup Kise had already raised and offered without saying anything. Why was he fulfilling the request without throwing a fit? He had no idea. People were usually too wary of him to ask for anything from him and when they did he would be so reluctant or mocking that they usually never bothered again. There were only a few exceptions to this rule; Kagami, for example, he would be very reluctant and rude to him but always help. Similarly for Kuroko Tetsuya. Then obviously for Momoi Satsuki but then he never really threw a tantrum against Satsuki, his best friend, for God knows, Satsuki would so not take his crap, she would just torture him till he did what she asked for and knowing this he almost always fulfilled her requests, with reluctance of course, albeit a lesser reluctance than he showed to anyone else.

Here he was now, without any blatant show of reluctance or dissatisfaction or anger, with two cups of hot coffee in his hands returning to his desk and one of these cups was not for him. Was he whipped? Had a stranger managed to get him whipped in perhaps less than an hour? He must have been delusional. Yes. Delusional. And just as he had arrived at his desk he realised Kise looking at a photo. He did not say anything and put the cup in front of Kise silently but Kise almost jumped.

A jump of pure joy, it seemed to be.

"Oh My God! Aominecchi! Is this you?"

"Yes" Aomine said and he thought that if he listened to this high pitched, constantly excited, frequently loud voice all the time he would probably have headaches but then why was he even thinking of the possibility of listening to this voice all the time? He would not hear it again after tonight, surely, so he just had to endure it for the night.

"You look so cool! Amazing! I didn't know you were a basketball player."

Aomine gave him a confused look; "_obviously you don't know idiot, we just met!_" was the right kind of response to give but Aomine had just two weeks ago gotten a warning after he had talked very... _unprofessionally_ during an interrogation, and... had treated the suspect very _unprofessionally_ too, so he really had to be careful with his choice of words with the blond now.

"I played in high school."

"This is so cool! You are almost like... flying! You are so amazing! Mmm... the coffee is so good too, again! Wow you are talented in everything. So good."

Well, Aomine had to admit that this excited and cheerful tone did sound nicer when it was praising him. He had always been a proud person with an ego much larger than average human being out there so yes, it did make him feel better, superior to be appreciated; especially by an established model of all people.

"I was very good; I am very good in basketball..."

"It is obvious! I mean wow... You seem to be enjoying it so much though here, pure euphoria. I have done all kinds of sports but I manage to master them so easily so I never really enjoy them much..."

"That does not sound very realistic."

"Oh but I am being honest. Cross my heart!" Kise made a small cross like gesture over his chest and Aomine almost giggled at that, he was like an overexcited child and for some reason it looked... really cute on him.

"Fine. I would beat you so bad in basketball though."

"I never really tried basketball and you do look amazing... Hmm.. I don't know."

"You don't know? Well, I _do_ know. I would beat you. I would wipe the floor up with you." Aomine said as he reclined a little on his chair, sipping from his coffee, an arrogant smirk tugged to his lips. Of all the faces he had seen of Kise that night, he saw yet another one he had not seen; just how many gestures or faces could this man make? In such a short period of time too. Here he was, looking intensely and intently at Aomine, his thumb slightly rubbing on the framed photograph in his hand as though it was a threatening move; there was something almost predatory in his gaze and the slight smirk his lips made... It would be very intimidating to most people, luckily, Aomine Daiki was not most people so instead of intimidating it seemed rather... attractive? Enticing? Interesting? In any case, he was interested. A second later, Kise put the photograph back to its place in silence, now almost sizing up Aomine with his eyes. What was he trying to get at? Was he trying to calculate just how much power Aomine could muster in his body?

"Well... If you were that good, why didn't you become a professional?"

Aomine shrugged his shoulders,

"I like basketball, hell, I love it, but I am fine as long as I have good people to play it with. I just play it because I love it. Not because I necessarily think of it as a profession."

"That's interesting" the blond mumbled, his voice was softer now and he was holding the cup of coffee in both his hands. He had slouched a little, cup was around his chin, he looked... a little childish. Gone was the alluring duelling face of a moment ago, now he was an innocent and slightly curious child... How did he do this? These sudden changes... Aomine was impressed, actually.

After a few minutes of silence, only interrupted by gulps of hot coffee on each side of the table, Kise mentioned being in a magazine photoshoot once with Horikita Mai and Aomine was instantly very interested and Kise must have had guessed that this topic would interest him, because he had this slightly mischievous look in his eyes. Then they talked about modelling a bit, or rather Kise talked and complained about it while Aomine listened silently. Then Aomine brought their third round of coffees for the night (it was actually the sixth for Aomine, but who was counting? They had a whole night to go through anyway!) and he even brought some donuts, left overs from the morning and Kise was very happy, as happy as a human could possibly be at these, he must have been very hungry and Aomine thought, as the blond devoured the sweets, that somehow it was soothing to watch Kise eat or drink and he also thought that this thought was very, very weird of him. Then they talked about the rain and just why the heck had it not yet stopped and Kise joked about how drenched he was under the rain but he had not realised it at all for he had been very scared, he had only realised it fully when changing because even his underwear were completely wet, and for some reason this brought the rather dirty idea of "_what is his underwear like?"_ to Aomine's mind and he tried very hard later to dispel this particular thought. But really, what would they be like? "_Must be very colourful and fashionable_" Aomine could not help thinking. Then they talked about weather, Kise complained about cold and Aomine joined him in these complaints, it seemed neither liked the cold weather, it seemed both were very much children of the bright sun and azure skies and of Summer, anything of Summer, really. Then Aomine made some more coffee for them and this particular task would repeat itself again and again and by the last repeat, it had become almost a habit, in the short span of time and the few repetitions, somehow, Aomine really did not mind making coffee for his stranger and found some kind of pride and joy as the man, every single time, would exclaim about just how delicious the coffee was. And Aomine knew he was being sincere, it looked exaggerated as hell and was probably exaggerated as hell because yes, he did make good coffee, but only the second best coffee even in their station, that damned Kagami made a better cup of joe than him surely; but even if it was exaggerated, it was not fake at all, there was an innocent sincerity in Kise's face and Aomine liked that.

They talked.

They talked.

And they talked.

Kise laughed. Kise pouted. Kise smiled. Kise frowned. Kise furrowed his brows. Kise made silly faces. Kise giggled. Kise pursed his lips. Kise smirked. Kise made puppy eyes. Kise winked. Kise stuck out his tongue and really, which other adult did that to a police officer in a police station in the middle of the night? Kise did. Probably only Kise. And Aomine was astonished at the pace of this man's familiarity, at the pace of this man's world, at the pace of this man's face, at the pace of this man's eyes, at the pace of this man's lips, at the pace of this man's voice... It was irritating at first, it was still irritating at times, but mostly, it was, dare he say it, endearing and amusing. It humoured Aomine. It was like a one-man-theatre-troupe and somehow it knew just which jokes to make for Aomine. And then there were moments, rare moments, Kise said something serious, there was an incredible allure to his words and small smiles or small frowns whenever he did that; whether content or contempt, somehow looked dazzling on this man's face, in this man's voice, from this man's lips...

And Aomine thought at least twice that night, before the dawn, that perhaps, perhaps just by a remote small chance, his bicurious phase had not been over in his teenage years. Perhaps. "_Oh no_", he shook his head a little whenever the thought popped up, "_nope, I like Horikita Mai and I like big breasts and..._" his thoughts would falter away at some new face Kise was pulling.

When the first rays of light announced the coming of the new day, neither of the duo was feeling tired or sleepy. Sure a slight fatigue had built up in their bodies, from sitting, but that was it mostly; truthfully, they had not understood just how fast the night had gone by. Under the shining light of the sun, Kise closed his eyes gracefully, and the sunlight bathed him and it seemed so natural; like a god of sun, his still slightly damp hair almost sparkled under the light, Aomine realised just how thick and long the man's eyelashes were and they fluttered slowly and slightly and oh so beautifully under the sunlight... He seemed ethereal almost and Aomine could not believe that he thought this of a man, perhaps he was sleepier than he felt. Kise opened his eyes slowly, so slowly that Aomine held his breath watching it, as if it was a morning glory blooming peacefully with the rising sun; the analogy somehow, Aomine thought, fit Kise very well. Perhaps, this man was a flower who bloomed with the sun, and the light, and the warmth and oh God, had he just made an analogy likening a grown adult man to a flower? He would doubt himself of being intoxicated, but he was very sure that the only thing he drank that night was the coffee he himself had made and he had not spiked it.

Kise got up and stretched a bit,

"So... I guess we have to go. You will take me home right?"

"Yes." Aomine said as he grabbed his jacket and then realised Kise looking at the clothes on him,

"Oh you can keep those for now... You can bring them later. Your clothes are still wet right?"

"Yes they are. Thank you Aominecchi!"

Aomine made a gesture with his hand signalling that it was nothing, why didn't he actually say, clearly utter that Kise was welcome, oh so very welcome? He did not know. Actually, he knew. Why was he so self-conscious with this man?

When they went out, Aomine carefully canvassed the surroundings with his eyes first, there seemed to be nobody suspicious.

"Is your house close?"

"It is a couple of blocks away..."

"Hmm... it may still be better to go with the car. Just in case the perp is somewhere close..."

Aomine muttered. After informing the other officer, one at the entrance cubicle, that he would be taking the stalking victim home, Aomine took one of the station's cars to take Kise home. And no, he did not feel in the least bit happy that now he would know where the man lived, that would be very unprofessional. And a tad bit creepy too. He hated himself. He did not like being creepy. Not that he would do or try anything, he was not that kind of a man, he had never been that kind of a man, but even the thought of knowing making him happy felt wrong. He felt conflicted. They arrived at Kise's place apparently and it was one of the upscale tall buildings located at the other end of the neighbourhood; nothing Aomine could ever afford with his current salary, to be frank, not that he minded, he had never been a material person, somehow now it did stung a bit though. That was also how he realised just how modest the blond had been and thus he looked even more endearing...

Aomine escorted Kise right up to the door of his apartment, gave his card to the man and Kise panicked for a second,

"Could you, could you please wait here? I will be back! Just one second! Please don't go anywhere! Aominecchi, please, just one second!"

Aomine was not sure why the blond had panicked or begged him so much, if he said to wait one moment, Aomine would wait for one moment, he was not that much of a jerk, was he? Or did he seem like one? Well, he did seem angry most of the time, at least that was what others said... Before he could even finish his trail of thoughts, Kise was back again at the door, offering him a card.

"You didn't have to..." Aomine said though inside him, he did feel a little happy at the gesture.

"Oh but it is the proper etiquette. And please keep it! If you don't mind, that is... Please."

"Okay, I will. I will see if we can get some protection for you, it may be hard though, we are pretty busy normally... But yeah, I would suggest that if you have any friends, ask them to be with you today and tonight. Be careful outside these days. I already entered your complaint to the system last night, so prosecutor's office should have already received it. If you observe anything out of ordinary, receive strange calls or something, just give me a call on the number on the card. Be careful."

It was the usual set of statements he made to almost every such victim but he could not help feel a bit more protective than usual and hoped, really hoped inside that the stalker from last night had their leg broken or something and would just disappear... Kise on his part looked both very thankful and slightly sad and Aomine could not figure why, perhaps he was afraid.

It was very much out of ordinary for Aomine but it came so naturally at that moment, as they said their good byes, he reached out and patted the shoulder of the man in front of him; they were almost of the same age, they were both adults, they had almost the same height and the same build, why was he feeling so protective of this man as he would feel of a young child? It was stupid but the gesture had cleared away the slight frown that was tugging at the lips of the blond, he smiled fondly and slightly blushing, he mumbled,

"Please, um don't throw the card. Okay? Have a nice day. Thank you for taking care of me tonight."

"I said I won't. No problem, take care."

Aomine descended the stairs slowly and did not hear the sound of the door closing behind him until he had disappeared from the stairs of that floor completely; was his mind playing games on him? Or had Kise actually watched his back from his doorstep till it had disappeared? When he reached the car, he stayed inside for about 10 minutes or so, ensuring that nobody suspicious was in the area. It did not seem to be and Kise's building had extra security so he did not feel very bad for leaving.

When he reached the office back, people had started coming in, and they were already complaining about working in Christmas and Aomine never understood all this fuss about Christmas anyway. He was happy that his shift was over. He gathered up his stuff, punched in his hours in the online time card, and he was out the door in a few minutes. He could not wait to go home to his comfortable bed, and luckily he did not leave far away. On the way home, this thought kept him busy for a bit; they lived rather close, so how come he had not come across Kise in the streets? Well, he usually did not care about others, especially other men much so it was normal, perhaps. When he went home and lazily changed into more comfortable clothes, the card Kise gave him fell from the pocket of his jacket. He took it and chuckled to himself; the way blond had reminded him not to lose it was kind of endearing... He went to kitchen to place the card on the refrigerator, thinking that this would be the only way to not to lose it and it was only then he realised that something was written at the back of the card.

"Teach me how to play basketball? One-on-one?"

And a mobile phone number was scribbled underneath with a playfully winking emoticon, hand drawn. Aomine could not help laugh at the ridiculous cuteness of it all and then a smirk invaded his face and he thought that calling right away would look very uncool of him and why did he care to look cool in front of Kise he did not know or rather he knew but preferred to ignore now and he thought that he should, most definitely, call Kise in the afternoon, after sleeping a bit first...

He did call Kise that afternoon and Kise had picked up the phone with a yawn and upon hearing Aomine's voice had exclaimed in pure joy and excitement,

"Aominecchi!"

And Aomine thought, "_mercurial_"...

"_He is mercurial, indeed._"

And it suited Kise, a lot and Aomine thought that he liked it, a lot.


	2. Chapter 2

(_**A/N:** So this story - Mercurial - was really, really meant to be a oneshot. But then... then bunnies appeared. Oh well... I just can't seem to get over this AU so I thought, "heck I'll properly end it" and then perhaps the bunnies will disappear. Please do let me know if you think it is better as a oneshot. If it is so, I will gladly go on a bunny hunt. Or perhaps try to move those bunnies to somewhere else?_)

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><p>"There is something definitely fishy about him. I am telling you, he always goes out by himself during lunch break if we are at the station. He never eats with me anymore!"<p>

"Perhaps he is just sick of eating burgers."

"I – I don't eat burgers all the time."

"When was the last time you had something other than burgers in the last month?"

"Ah... um..."

"Exactly my point."

"But Dai-chan likes burgers too... you know."

"True but burgers every day might be too much even for Aomine-kun."

"Hmm well true."

"Stop agreeing about it! And this is not about me or my eating habits! This is about just how weird Aomine has been for the last two months!"

"I don't know, sure I realised he has become happier, more energetic perhaps? But not necessarily '_weird_'."

"You only see him once every two weeks or so Tetsu-kun. While I would not exaggerate as Kagami-kun does, Dai-chan has been a little weird... I mean, we used to have dinner together at least three times a week. Now he is either not at home till very late or he collapses to bed when he comes. I send him a message and he only replies the next morning talking about how tired he had been and just fell asleep right away..."

"Yeah. He often complains about sore muscles at work as well. It is crazy."

"Hmm... Not having time for you guys, being tired but happy and energetic? Perhaps he has a girlfriend?"

Kagami gasped in horror,

"Impossible!"

"Hmm... Tetsu-kun might have a point."

"Don't agree with him Momoi! How is that possible? Who would go out with that prick?!"

"Are you perhaps jealous due a hypothetical girlfriend, Kagami-kun?"

"What?! Why would I be?"

"I don't know, you tell me?"

"I – I... He – he is not... I - I would never... Damn, stop talking weird shit. I am his colleague! So I am just concerned because I literally leave my safety and life in his hands every day. And... you know... I would never... I mean you are the only..."

A completely flushed face and awkward stuttering simply looked lovely on Kagami's face and Kuroko smiled, Momoi did as well, rather bittersweet though; sure, her infatuation with Kuroko was long gone by now at a deep level but it still felt strange to watch the two like this...

"I know Kagami-kun. I was just teasing you."

"Argh! Don't do that..."

"Are you two finished with your flirting?"

"Hey we are not flirting! Damn... Whatever. Look this thing with Aomine is serious."

"I am not sure why you two are so concerned. He seems happy and good. Perhaps there is a reason but so what."

"He wears cologne! Kuroko, I am telling you, Aomine started wearing cologne! He sometimes even plays with his hair before he goes out. Goddamn it, he even has male fashion magazines amongst his gravure archive in his drawer. I saw them!"

"Actually the other night when I went to his place to grab something I also saw a large number of shopping bags... It seems he went shopping and bought many clothes for himself. I mean sure he is not like... say Kagami-kun, he _does_ dress decently, but still he never goes to shopping by himself and whenever he buys something, it is either a single t-shirt or pair of pants at a time, never so many things..."

"What you do mean he is not like me and that he dresses decently? I dress decently too!"

"Only if you call wearing the same black t-shirt and baggy pants every day as '_decent_'."

Kuroko drooped his eyes as if lamenting,

"He has only one t-shirt that is not black and he has six of those same pair of baggy pants. It is _despairing_."

"What?! Despairing? I just – I just like... to be comfortable."

"Aomine's style is quite comfortable and laid back but at least he tries you know..."

Momoi's eyes were judging and so were Kuroko's, Kagami shook his head in disbelief,

"Please. Why is it again about me?! I am not the subject matter here. Aomine is. And I am telling you he is being weird. For God's sake he sometimes comes from his lunch break... um... all sweaty and he... even takes a shower."

"Oh..."

"Definitely a girlfriend then." Momoi commented with insight, sipping from her vanilla latte.

"Or a boyfriend."

"Hmm... You think so, Tetsu-kun?"

"Why not?"

"Well it is probable I guess."

Kagami's face flared up then again,

"What – What do you mean 'a boyfriend'?"

"Oh... You didn't know?"

"Dai-chan never told you?"

"Told me what?"

"Well he is bisexual."

"More like bicurious, I think he never dated or slept with any guy except those few times during high school..."

"Not like he dated many women either though."

"Hah, you are right I guess."

"Are you telling me that my partner has been bisexual and I never knew about it?!"

"Seems so."

"Pretty much."

"I cannot believe this! I cannot!"

"Why are you so flustered? You _are_ gay."

The comment seemed to make Kagami blush even a darker shade of red and it was quite a sight,

"Kuroko! Ugh... It is just... I mean he talks about breasts and everything and he makes these godawful obscene jokes..."

"Well, he is _bisexual_..."

"I actually have a theory that since he is what society deems to be the 'perfect manly man', to alleviate for the possible emasculation that might be imposed on him due to his sexual orientation, he specifically emphasises his love of female form."

"What?"

Kagami was more confused then surprised at this, Momoi sighed, Kuroko smiled,

"What I mean is: he is trying to hide just how much he craves men by always talking about breasts."

"It is childish, really." Momoi added, Kagami pondered then...

It _kind of_ made sense.

.

.

.

.

"That was awesome..." Kise lied on his back, barely breathing, obviously every drop of energy drained from his body. Aomine smirked at the sight as he himself sat down near the blond,

"Awesome? You lost."

Kise pouted and turned to Aomine,

"So what?! I have been playing for less than two months. It is normal that I lose to you. But I will win. Eventually."

"Sure, you will win, if I lose an arm or a leg or something..."

"Argh, you are so arrogant! But you will see. One day I will wipe the floor with you."

Aomine laughed at that which only increased Kise's pout. A few seconds of silence passed comfortably, both much at ease in each other's company. Then Kise's pout resolved as easily as it had appeared and he wandered his gaze over Aomine's body,

"Hmm... You are wearing the t-shirt we bought the other day?"

"Uh yeah, all others were in laundry. I better do some housework one of these days. My house is like a battlefield."

It was a lie. Not the latter part, that – that was definitely true. The part of all others being in laundry was definitely a lie though. Aomine had just been trying to look... good. And he knew why too. The thought brought little butterflies of anxiety to his stomach, which he both hated and loved.

"I am sure it is... I cannot imagine you doing housework. Well, I am glad you liked the clothes. They were pretty much your style but just a tad bit different too... I was unsure if I was imposing something you did not like on you so..."

"I hate doing housework but when I actually start I am very efficient and good at it. I guess I am naturally good at everything huh? Plus, really, no worries. I would say so if I did not like things we chose and I did a few times too... I cannot even imagine myself in that crazy bright green scarf you tried to buy for me. All in all it was funny though, I was scared it would take long but we finished pretty quick. I hate long shopping sprees..."

"'Naturally good at everything'? You sure are naturally good at having a huge ego, sir. And, that was not '_crazy bright green_', that was '_lime green_'. It would have looked pretty good too but alas to each his own! And, I do know when to shop for long hours and when to shop quickly, it isn't hard to see that you don't like spending so much time shopping."

"Satsuki loves though! And she drags me into it as well..."

"Oh so you do go on long shopping sprees..."

"Yeah! It sucks."

"Why don't you just reject her?"

"Ah, I just can never say no to her somehow..."

"Well you did say she was your best friend..."

Kise's gaze had lifted up to the sky now and he looked dazed, in thoughts and his eyebrows slightly furrowed, and Aomine thought for a second; he was not the most adept in the game of wooing but he just wanted to ensure he had set the basics clearly:

"More than that actually..."

"Oh..."

_Ah..._ Kise's lips tightened into a line then. Could Aomine interpret this as _something_?

"She is more like a sister to me. I could not feel any more brotherly towards her if she was my real flesh and blood sister, I believe."

"Oh..."

Had he rectified the situation? Had there been a situation in reality? Aomine was really not skilled at these things. A few seconds of silence, not so comfortable now and Kise shot up,

"Let's play one more round."

"Are you out of your mind? You almost collapsed before."

"Nah, I am good! I am all energised! Come on!"

"Don't be stupid. It is cold too. It is still February."

"_Aaoominecchiii..._ Please..."

"Stop begging me. It won't change a thing. I can't. You know what day it is."

"What?"

"It is Friday. I have the game with Kagami and Kuroko tomorrow morning, like every week. I cannot spend all my energy tonight."

"Oh and here you were talking about how undefeatable you were..."

"Oh I will defeat them tomorrow regardless, I just don't want to do it in a lame fashion, out of breath and all..."

"_Sure, sure_."

"Well you can say anything you like but no."

"You are so mean..."

"I am so generous that I not only taught you how to play ball but am actually enduring your miserably weakass play every week too many times."

"My play is not weakass or miserable! You yourself said that I was improving at a speed you've never seen before!"

Kise was pouting again as Aomine had gotten up and packing his bag,

"Yeah well, you are improving fast. It does not mean you have improved to a degree where your play is worth my time."

Kise did not debunk that so Aomine turned and was surprised at the genuine haze of self-doubt that clouded Kise's face. He felt guilty.

_Great..._

Aomine sighed and packed Kise's bag as well – not that there was much to pack – and motioned towards him, offering his bag,

"But... since you are such an eager student and I am such a greathearted teacher, I will buy you a drink. For motivation. You know."

Kise sighed and took his bag, not saying anything but following Aomine's footsteps as they walked to the exit of the court and then of the sports complex where they regularly played basketball. It was close and convenient to both their homes and the police station where Aomine worked so they sometimes even played one-on-one during Aomine's lunch break.

The first one to break the silence on their way to the classy but not so uppity bar they frequented now and then was Aomine as the guilt had taken over his guts and he felt the need to say something to lift the obvious defeat that surrounded the blond,

"You are... quite good you know. I truly have never seen anybody who played so good in such little time. Plus... it is like magic but you are actually able to copy my moves. So quickly too."

He was trying but praising others had never been his forte, he truly was a vain man and praised himself the most.

A tiny smile crept back to Kise's face regardless,

"You think so?"

"Yeah. I mean even Kagami... He knew basketball from before and he still had grown in a slower pace than you. And uh... He did beat me a few times during high school, well not just him, on one-on-ones he can particularly suck, with Kuroko he is pretty formidable though."

"You play with them every week too..."

"Yeah, it is fun. We also have a game once every two months with more of our rivals and friends from high school and middle school."

"But you mostly talk about Kagami... and Kuroko."

"Obviously. I mean they are my closest buddies. At least Kuroko is. Kagami is... just Kagami. He is my partner too at work so..."

"And you had once said that you had a bout of angst late middle school and for some time did not even enjoy basketball and it actually took a defeat to make you like it again... Was it Kagami? The one who beat you then?"

"Yeah. Well, him and Kuroko as I said..."

"I see..."

"What?"

"Nothing."

For the rest of the four hundred metres that they walked the time passed without either saying anything and Aomine started worrying whether he had said anything problematic again. Just when they were about to enter the bar, Kise mumbled in a silent tone,

"You know... If I knew you back then. I would train harder than anybody and I would be the one to beat you. I would _definitely_ defeat you."

The statement gave a peculiar pleasure to Aomine that he could not properly define, not that he cared much to define, he simply smirked and Kise also donned his signature bubbly smile the moment they were in the bar. Then he almost skipped to the counter and hopped on a stool.

"A Persimmon Martini. And he's paying."


	3. Chapter 3

_(**A/N:** Kise does not appear much in this chapter but I hope I was able to move the plot at least a little... I also really wanted to portray the proximity between Momoi and Aomine because it is something I truly love. I like how comfortably close they are with each other, like flesh and blood siblings, perhaps even more. It is very endearing and important to me. Please do comment on the chapter, it is always great hearing from you.)_

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><p>"Why are you slouching like an old man?"<p>

"I am not slouching..."

"You are slouching. You know it really is bad for your posture. I've been telling this to you for years but you never listen to me..."

"Will you please, _please_ shut up Satsuki?"

A perfect jump shot it was with only one single yet very important imperfection: the ball actually missed the hoop.

"Huh?!"

"Wow Aomine-kun, that was a perfect miss."

"Shut up Tetsu."

"He is saying the truth..." Kagami noted, an abashed amusement in his voice right as he himself made a jump shot, his form less perfect but the ball actually made it to the hoop this time.

Aomine looked unfazed,

"It was just a fluke... You know I can pretty much score in any posture or form anyway."

And he shot, this time without a proper posture... And unlike the normal case where the ball would somehow defy the laws of physics and almost consciously throw itself through the hoop, this time it actually decided to obey the laws of physics and bounced on a completely odd direction.

Aomine looked at the ball, puzzled.

Whereas Kagami looked surprised, Kuroko looked piqued, and Satsuki looked disappointed.

It was just... not something any of them had expected.

"Okay... Perhaps my horoscope has the worst luck or something, if Midorima was here he would find an explanation surely. But this is stupid, it is not like I forgot how to score..."

And he grabbed the ball from the floor and threw it again, not in a perfect form, not in an absence of form, somewhere in the middle – perhaps that was the key? Well, perhaps not because the ball missed again and Aomine himself did not only lose his composure quite a bit but also his footing right at the moment of the shot.

Kagami looked worried now, Kuroko looked suspicious, and Satsuki looked furious.

"What is wrong with you?!"

"I – I don't know!"

"Dude, seriously, maybe we have to take you to a doctor... Is Midorima working at the clinic today?"

Kuroko carefully approached his confused friend and meticulously observed him, his gaze travelling and taking in every minuscule detail of the tall man. He leaned in a little, then furrowed his eyebrows, sniffed a few times and a disappointed little frown appeared on his face.

"What?"

"You know 'what' very well Aomine-kun..."

"No I don't..."

"You are hung over."

"He is _what_?!"

The scream belonged to Satsuki who hopped from her place on the benches and stomped near them,

"Dai-chan!"

"I am not really hung over. Sure I have a headache and I did drink a bit last night with friends... But it is nothing really. I don't even smell."

"It is because you took a shower."

"Huh? How do you...?"

"Because you smell like shampoo, idiot. What were you doing drinking alone?" Satsuki scolded the tall man, pinching his arm rather forcefully.

"Aw! Satsuki damn it, don't pinch me! Stop acting like a child. So what if I went to drink? And I was not alone."

"You went drinking and got drunk the night before we had a match. That's not cool man."

"Oh I am sorry if I hurt your feelings Kagami..." Aomine increased the pitch of his voice in mock politesse and repentance, which only flared Kagami,

"I will punch you! I will so-"

Kuroko held his hand to Kagami's chest and it was enough to stop the man from further threateningly leaning towards Aomine.

"Kagami-kun please stay calm. Aomine-kun, we all know you are not well mannered but even you normally would not do this. Plus, if you were not alone, who did you go drinking with?"

"Hey, drinking on a Friday night is perfectly normal okay? What is weird is that we are having these matches too early on Saturdays. I mean can't we do it in the afternoon or something?"

"You did not answer his question." Satsuki said, her tone clearly threatening. Aomine sighed,

"I already told you guys, with 'friends'."

"With which friends exactly? If you had gone with any of us, the photographs of your drunken follies would have already made it to us on Twitter or Facebook..."

"Well, except if he went out with Midorima. I don't think Midorima would post stuff like that."

Kagami chimed in and Kuroko sighed,

"Midorima-kun would not go out drinking with him in the first place."

"So if it was not with any of us, with whom? You have no other friends."

"Huh?! I can't believe you are saying that. That is hurts man. Insulting too. I have friends... Tons of friends."

"Like whom?"

"I have friends from... Touou?"

"Like that Sakurai guy who goes terrified the moment he sees you and starts saying he is sorry for existing?"

"Uh, he does that with everyone..."

"Well true but..." As Kagami was lost in the thought Kuroko followed up,

"So whom from Touou? Imayoshi-san?"

"Oh hell no, who would be friends with that guy! Even the idea is horrifying."

"So you don't have any friends from Touou with whom you would go out drinking. Admit it. You don't have many friends and we know it."

"I do have friends!"

"Like whom?"

"I have friends from the Academy! And from the Station!"

"Dude, like half the guys in the Academy did not even know you because you skipped way too many classes and the other half hated you for being so lazy yet still graduating with honours. And the Station? Half our colleagues are pretty much scared shitless of you and the other half just avoid you because you are a lazy-ass jerk who always pushes his paperwork to others."

"That is actually sad. So there are no colleagues who would actually go out drinking with him?"

"Well, if he paid..."

"Hell no, why would I pay for those idiots?"

"See. I rest my case."

"So who were you with?" Satsuki intervened to repeat again,

"God! Does it matter? I am an adult, I went out and had fun on a Friday night. I am not going to explain myself to you people."

"What a drama queen..."

"Oi! Tetsu!" and Aomine leaned in probably to throw a threatening look simply to shut the matter up but he staggered and almost fell on Kuroko which completely took away any impact from any threat he could give.

"My God, are you okay?" Satsuki was a little worried now as Kagami held Aomine up ensuring he stood straight.

"Yeah... I am fine, I just lost my balance for a second."

"Good now-"

"I think I need to go."

"Oh please, why are you running away? You are always like this Dai-chan!"

"Because I think... I'll vomit."

"Oh My... Damn Dai-chan! Come on, I'll take you home. Wait, don't puke in my car. Damn it go puke in the trash can there before getting in... It is parked right in the front."

"Can you walk?" Kagami asked honestly, a little worried as well but Aomine brushed off,

"Yeah yeah, whatever."

The journey back to Aomine's home was very silent as the sulked for the first half and simply dozed off in the latter. It took some Herculean effort to get Aomine into his apartment from the car but thanks to her rather unfortunately long history of dragging Aomine around she was a true star at this. Once in bed, he dozed off so quickly that Momoi wondered how the man had been even able to come to the court for the match in the morning. The house was a disaster but Momoi was both too angry at Aomine and too tired to care so instead she made herself a quick breakfast of cereal and milk that were always readily available at Aomine's house since he was simply too lazy to cook in general (and not that Momoi would even attempt to cook, she had stopped trying a long time ago). After her modest meal she thought of leaving but decided against it in case Aomine needed her help; while he looked the brash and carefree type, Aomine did not drink often and his tolerance of alcohol was not great. Who knew what would be his state when he finally woke up? So she set up camp in the living room with her electronic tablet in hand, opting to catch up at least a little with the huge amount of reading she still had to do for her PhD thesis...

It was late in the afternoon, around her third cup of green tea and second packet of Pocky (thank God for the various sweet snacks Aomine's friends brought but that he never finished all) she heard the buzzing sound of a vibration. It was not her phone so it was likely to be Aomine's and it took quite a bit of a search in the living room to find the dark blue coloured device... under the couch. It meant that he had not even taken it with him in the morning, which only made Momoi even angrier; she could not believe how carefree Aomine could sometimes be. What piqued her interest and swallowed her temper though was the name that flashed on the screen:

"Model-kun?"

She mumbled... _Aha!_

Perhaps the mystery woman they had hypothesised of occupying Aomine's mind and life was a model? Though he would be more likely to call her "Model-chan" in that case; not that he was fond of sweeter ways of calling one but because he was simply too impolite and informal to use "kun" for a female. _Instead of thinking about it, better receiving it_ – she thought and picked the call just a few rings before it would be too late to anyway:

"Um hello?"

She was surprised to find that the voice belonged to a man. Definitely a man. Not too young or too old, probably around the same age as they were. He sounded tired and insecure but it was warm... Higher in pitch than Aomine's voice, definitely, but not irritating at all.

"Hello"

"Oh... I... I wanted to speak to Aominecch- I mean with Aomine-san?"

"Ah he is... not available right now. Could I get your name? I'll tell that you called?"

"No, no problem. Not needed. Have a nice day."

There was an awkward ring to his tone as he uttered the last words and almost hung up in a hurry that only further piqued Momoi's interest.

_Could it be that Tetsu-kun is right?_ She could not help but wonder. It was very much possible for Aomine to date a man, he had played around with men before... Or rather with boys, though he himself was a boy then. The main problem in any case was Aomine dating anybody, regardless of gender, she knew just how clueless, inexperienced, and disinterested he was about dating so the whole thing only confused her.

_Model-kun..._ If the man who just called was a model, there was no way for him to date Aomine anyway. Right?

In any case, she thought that putting too much emphasis on incidents that did not require so was not a good methodology so she opted to free her mind of these suspicions for now, till further evidence would be attained.

By the time Aomine woke, surely all the suspicions that were going through her mind were already gone for she had rather uncomfortably fell asleep on the couch... It was not very late yet but spending a whole day reading and drinking too much green tea did that. Aomine was not alien to this sight in his living room either, those times he would get ill or was depressed Momoi would come over to look after him. Having grown up without much attention or care by his parents, Momoi had almost taken up that role... looking after him, taking care of him. Not that he minded, honestly, if there was one person on earth he did not mind taking care of him – or taking care of as well – it was Momoi. He even smiled at the weird position she was in and then grabbed a blanket from his room. Unfortunately, he had never been a subtle person or one talented in sneaky movements, so as soon as he tried to put the blanket over her, she cracked an eye open and a small yawn escaped her lips,

"I fell asleep... huh?"

"Yeah, whatever, go to back to sleep..."

"Nah, if I sleep now I won't be able to sleep at night... Wait, it is not that late is it?"

"Nope, it is still only 8 pm..."

She sat up and a tiny smile settled on her face as she realised the blanket that was very clumsily draped over her and her surrogate of a brother slightly blushed as he sat at the edge of the couch,

"Says the man who slept the whole day... Wow I mean. Wow. You slept till now?"

"Yeah so what... I didn't sleep at all last night you know."

"You did not?!"

"No... I drank a lot... Then it was very late when I came back and I realised if I slept I would never make it to meeting with you guys this morning so I opted for taking a shower instead..."

"That explains the missed shots."

He nodded thoughtfully though Momoi was not sure what he was thinking... Interrogating him forcefully or teasing him were all fun but she knew very well that he was a very tough nut to crack and a heartfelt talk was needed, however even then he would not let anything inside to spill unless he felt it was the right time to and he felt comfortable enough... He had always been like that. Ready to help others, sometimes even behind the doors, but never open about his own needs, never requesting help from others... Her smile turned a little bittersweet and when she talked her voice was very compassionate,

"Is anything wrong?"

"Huh? No..."

"Good... Are you dating anyone?"

He looked at her for a moment, she could see a thought flicker in his eyes but she could not define it, then he shook his shoulders,

"Nope."

"No lovers?"

"No lovers."

"Anything you want to talk about then?"

Another pause and shook of shoulders,

"Well, I _am_ really hungry..."

She sighed inside but just smirked on the outside,

"Oh is that so? Want me to cook for you?"

"God forbid!"

She threw the small cushion she was leaning on to his face then,

"Jerk. One day you'll beg me to cook but I won't. Now get up and order pizza. And you are paying."

"Oh anything... Anything as long as you are not the one cooking!" Aomine said chuckling as he got up and Momoi in an obviously mock fit of anger grabbed and threw the cushion at him again.


	4. Chapter 4

(_**A/N:**__ Because passive aggressive jealous Kise is the only kind of jealous Kise I can imagine. Also, it is my headcanon that the kryptonite for Aomine's basketball happens to be... ~~emotional turmoil~~. Do let me know what you think about this chapter, for some reason I felt it lacking... maybe I should re-write it, or maybe I am feeling so solely because Kise's appearance in it is small._)

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><p>It was not that he was worried. Or that he had missed Kise. Or that he felt let down. It just... felt out of ordinary? Yes, it was simply that Kise had instilled himself to his life so strongly, now even a few days of his absence felt strange.<p>

Aomine found himself checking his phone more than usual by the third day – Tuesday to be exact – of Kise's absence. The man who called or messaged him almost daily had not showed his face or voice or emojis for three whole days. Could it be that he was mad at Aomine? Well, he would have every right to be so, if Aomine had to admit it.

Surely, it was not his fault that they had gone drinking. They had drunk casually like that many times before, in quite a few Friday nights too... The difference had been that by late in the night, partly fuelled by the alcohol in his veins and partly by the delectable pout Kise kept making at him, obviously still a little hurt about his loss in the court nevertheless fully defiant, bravely claiming that he would catch up very soon... Aomine had claimed that there was no way Kise could catch up to him in anything, not in basketball, or even in... drinking.

It was stupid. He had just wanted to tease Kise further, but it was stupid. Really, honestly, truly it was just stupid yet they were not the brightest of the bunch anyway and had riled up pretty quickly against each other about who could hold his liquor better and truth was that probably neither could hold up well. Still, they went at it and it quickly escalated to a full blown drinking contest, which Aomine liked to think that they both lost by the end because they were both so drunk that neither knew just how much each had consumed. Though Aomine had claimed victory regardless, there was no winner in reality, that was for sure.

It was stupid. He insisted on taking Kise up to his apartment but Kise had joked that they were both equally and miserably drunk anyway so even though they shared the same cab, Aomine stayed in the car and watched Kise walk – or rather painfully slowly drag himself – into his building. He had realised as soon as he reached home that in a few hours he was expected at the court to play his routine game against Kagami and Kuroko, Momoi would probably be there too. If he skipped, they would be incredibly mad and Momoi would probably blame his irresponsible ways and remind him of this particular time he didn't show up, for many many years to come. If he slept, he would in no way wake before late afternoon. He did not have many choices so he thought to give having a cold shower a chance. It turned out that in Winter, even if Spring was right around the corner, even if you were in your warm home, a cold shower was not a very good idea. It did wake him up quite a bit though and he felt alert enough. A few chocolate bars also helped his mind to work better and the court was not far away at all from his house anyway so he walked.

Well, the rest of his Saturday had not passed so well though...

What happened to Kise? Had he had a similarly awful Saturday and decided that hanging out with Aomine was a bad idea? Could it be that perhaps he was caught in such a drunken state by his manager and scolded or even punished? Or worse, considering how the blond had quite a few stalkers in the past, could something bad have happened to him?

The questions whirled in his mind and Aomine had to take a deep breath to silence them. No, there was no reason to worry. Kise was an adult. There was no need to worry so much. And so what if Kise would decide to not spend time with him anymore? It was not like he had initiated their... this little bond they had, whatever he could not yet name but this thing; but it was not like he was the owner of it! Oh no, it had definitely been Kise who had initiated this relationship and also maintained it through and if he did not like it anymore, they just would... not continue then...?

The idea soured both his face and stomach and he felt heavy and tired. He had to admit at least to himself that he did care about the blond and regardless of who had initiated it, this little thing they had... Aomine liked it. Almost cherished it. He cherished Kise and realising it so fully was rather terrifying.

Was he missing Kise? Oh God, hopefully not. Not that infatuated with him... Was he?

The days continued to pass uneventful... Actually, they had been eventful in the sense that his arrest rate soared that week as he focused all he had in his work, however inside of his mind and heart it felt extremely dull and boring, as though nothing of interest was happening to him. Kagami would try to catch his attention now and then but fail; the poor man did try quite a bit, even taking Aomine to an Italian restaurant for lunch once, claiming that they ate too many burgers. Not that Aomine minded burgers and he was sure that Kagami would prefer burgers over even the most gourmet fine dining. Kise would not probably. Though, probably Kise would like both burgers and say, foie gras. He was not posh but neither profane, somebody who truly enjoyed life or rather truly loved enjoying life... Small things could make him happy, Aomine had learnt, or grand things could make him happy – he would find something to be happy in anything and everything yet he also had this subtle sentimentality to him, something a little sadder, something a little deeper... He could not quite realise what it was but he would sometimes find the blond gazing upon emptiness and his joyful smile would be nowhere to be found; he would not be sad but he would not be cheerful either. It felt... lonely.

Aomine liked to think that as their... relationship developed Kise was less and less in a daze like that... He liked to think that Kise was less lonely. But was he simply acting out desires of his considerably large ego? And was Kise really lonely to begin with? They were all his conjectures and he had never been too good with conjectures and hypotheses and anything to do with data or information really, Momoi or Kuroko or Akashi would be better in these kind of things.

"Oi! Are you okay?"

"What? Why?"

"You have been staring at your phone for like ten minutes... Dude, you're freaking me out these days. What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing. I am just bored."

"You seemed to be too intently in thought to be _just bored_."

"What are you now? Tetsu? You see the bare souls of people or something?"

"You know sometimes you are not that hard to read... Though it is rare. In those times one does not need to be Kuroko to read you."

"Yeah sure _Professor Kagami_."

"Jerk."

Aomine simply rose up in his seat and grabbed his phone and slid it into the pocket of his uniform. Lo and Behold, the Friday had come, a full week without a single note or message from Kise and he had been simply too irritated for that fact that he had been snapping at Kagami again and again for days. It was unfair. But even at times when he was unfair and wanted to rectify the situation, he could not do so honestly... He really sucked at sociability. So he did as much as his limited skills allowed him,

"Come on, Bakagami. I'll buy you lunch."

"What's the occasion? Or did you hit your head somewhere without me realising?"

"Nah I am just feeling extremely generous today and I have a wish for Kami-sama so buying you lunch will be my offering for him. You know feeding someone poor or something like that, charity."

"Hey! We earn the same amount of money!"

"Yeah whatever, or is it that you don't want lunch? And I was thinking I could eat some burgers..."

"Um, I'll come. Whatever."

"Good boy!"

Aomine donned his smirk as his partner punched his shoulder in mock anger. Teasing Kagami was a truly enjoyable thing though he often lost himself in his own teasing and actually got seriously riled up.

The day was as uneventful as the week had been. The night was even worse, he could not sleep properly and fell asleep only very late at night. As a result when he woke up in the morning he was tired and stressed out. He honestly did not understand why they had to have these weekly matches in such a godawful hour of the most cherished day of the week – Saturday – and just how they had gotten him to agree to it in the first place... Oh, he remembered how actually, a rare deluxe edition of a particular Horikita Mai picture book had been the bait.

His morning was only about to get worse though. Even though he was able to take off his mind of Kise, he could not truly focus to the game either. It was all off – minuscule changes in the angles, in the distances, in the speed... It all helped him earn a pathetic defeat with 5 points of difference to boot! A disgrace, really.

"You are actually breathing hard."

"Don't tell me you drank again!"

"I did not... I just could not sleep well last night."

"Oh, something is bothering you?"

"No. Let's go have something to eat. I did not even have breakfast."

The others did not comment much after that and he could sense how awkward he was acting because Kagami did not even gloat of his win. Now, Kagami normally _always_ gloated of his victories. He did not blame the redhead, Aomine himself gloated twice as much even though he was usually the victor anyway. While Kagami did propose the fast food joint near by, Momoi vehemently disagreed and took them to a crepe place a few blocks away. It was such a tiny place with pale yellow walls adorned with various photographs of Paris and the dishes they served did not just look delicious but... decorated in an elaborately cute fashion.

Momoi giggled and "kya"ed as she received her order and she did so for others' orders as well. Kuroko did not seem fazed but did comment on how delicious indeed the meal was. Kagami was very much fazed and felt utterly out of place in the small and too delicate ambience and when finally served, he looked at his plate both with both wonder and horror – one would think that he was witnessing a miracle of God whereas he was simply looking at a waffle with fancy little cat designs out of chocolate and honey and ice cream and hearts out of strawberry syrup.

Aomine though, Aomine fell into a daze... The moment he entered the place he knew that Kise would love it. He would probably make comments about how cute the place was and how it would suit to take a date here. He would love the embellished dishes and their sweet taste though he would probably drink a bitter cup of café au lait without any sugar. He would beg Aomine to check this out or take a look at that and to come again...

Was he going to have a chance to see the bubbly blond again? Or had the man decided to leave Aomine's life completely? As he thought about Kise his eyes wandered to his mobile phone resting on the table right near his plate and his hand idly played with his food.

"You are looking at your phone again."

Kagami's voice was surely not quiet, if a little muffled due to the way he was stuffing his mouth with rather large chunks of waffle.

"I am not..."

"Yes you are. Like you have been. _All week_."

"You are waiting a call from someone? Aomine-kun?"

_Ah great... Here they go again._

"Not really."

"So why do you keep looking at your phone then?"

"It is nothing. I told you I was not."

"You are not getting angry either..."

"What? Now that is an issue too? I am supposed to get angry Tetsu?"

"You know what he means Dai-chan. He means that the fact that you are not getting 'angry' like you always do in a mock manner pretty much means you have a problem. You are depressively calm. Why don't you just spill it?"

Momoi's tone was frustrated and her eyes were concerned and Aomine, if he had to be honest, hated making Momoi concerned but she was just too easily concerned and he really did not like baring himself. Especially like this.

"You guys are just exaggerating it. There is nothing wrong."

He pocketed his phone and turned all his attention to his food, taking small pieces but gobbling it fast, hoping that the faster he ate the faster he could escape. Momoi sighed and Kuroko simply observed him silently for a moment,

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

Aomine almost choked.

"No! God... Why is it the same question always?"

"We are just curious and you are acting weird and we are your friends."

Aomine sighed,

"Look, I am telling you, I am not dating anybody, I don't have love troubles and all this thing about me acting weird is just Kagami's stupidity contriving things because he is too bored and his arrest rate sucks."

"Hey! My arrest rate is fine! So far I am in the top ten this month!"

"And please do tell me who is ranked the first?"

Aomine smirked and Kagami glared,

"From what I know you are usually not even motivated to do your work so well, so if you are first right now, I would actually regard it to be weird."

"Yeah sure Tetsu. Why don't you just admit it?"

"Admit what?"

Aomine gobbled up the last chunk of his banana filled crepe,

"You are too overprotective of your little boyfriend. That's why you are going along with his whims and wild speculations."

Their relationship was an open secret and thus not really a secret but Kagami's face still turned crimson with a strong mix of timidity and anger and even Kuroko's pale cheeks blushed at the unexpected salvo.

"Well..."

"You bastard! This is about you! It is not about me or him!"

Momoi simply gave a judging glare at Aomine. Now Aomine knew any such insinuations especially pissed off Momoi because of her history in regards to Kuroko but he could not help it this time and it was not his fault if the two were so childishly innocent about it.

"Anyway, I am going home."

"Hey! You didn't even pay!"

"Because you will pay for me?"

"What the hell?! Why am I paying for you? For insulting my... I mean for insulting Kuroko?!"

"What? You still can't even say 'my boyfriend'? You two practically live together."

"As roommates! We have been living together for years, as roommates! And it – it is not... I mean... Goddamn it Aomine you jerk, pay your bill."

"But I lost! I lost the game and you are going to make me pay too?!"

"Huh?"

"What is it? You are trying to rub your victory to my face? I know you rarely win against me but I never thought you would be this petty... Such cruel boasting."

"Wait... This has nothing to do with the game."

"It has everything to do with the game. You not only won against me but you won't even pay for my meal to show your good intent."

Kagami was puzzled and paused for a few seconds during which Kuroko who understood where this was going sighed though the changing direction of the conversation had helped cool his cheeks and heart down a little. Momoi on the other hand just palmed her face.

"Uh... Fine. Whatever. I'll pay for this."

"Good idea Kagami. Now I am out..."

"Wait, Dai-chan, don't you want me to drop you?"

"Nah, I pass, I'll just walk..."

"You will walk?!" – all three said the same sentence with almost the same facial expression that Aomine thought it was funny, it almost made him laugh... _almost_.

"Yeah, see ya!"

He took off quickly and left behind three very confused people.

"I cannot believe this... That lazy-ass Aomine who almost always begs Momoi-san to take him home... '_will walk'_. He _passes_ the offer this time."

Kuroko sighed,

"I actually cannot believe _you _Kagami-kun."

"Huh? Why?"

"Last week we could not play but the week before, who won?"

"Aomine."

"And we went to eat afterwards, who paid the bill then?"

"I did."

"Why?"

"Well because Aomine kept on saying that losers should... pay up... as a punishment... Oh God damn it that bastard!"

Kagami leaned back covering his face with both his palms,

"I cannot believe you fell for it."

"Why didn't you saying anything?!"

"Well it was rather amusing even if embarrassing to watch you fall for that..." Momoi chimed instead,

"Jeez Momoi-san not you too... Argh, I hate that guy."

"He was really depressed though."

Kuroko commented and there was hint of a concern in his voice. Others agreed too, Momoi with a nod and Kagami with a sigh.

On the way home, Aomine hypothesised about just what could have had happened with Kise and at the end decided that it was simply stupid. In the week without any sign of Kise, he had realised that in all their time knowing each other, Aomine had called up Kise only twice and never messaged him first. The two times he called, the first did not really count because it was that initial time he had called after seeing Kise's phone number on the card – Kise had practically implicitly asked him to call... The other time, he had an emergency at work and thus had to cancel a previously planned one-on-one game. It was stupid but he realised that since he had never been the one to initiate their conversations and communication, he was truly clueless about how to do it now. Was it appropriate? What if he was busy? What if he would dismiss him? While insecurities that he did not know he had kept creeping up his spine, at a certain point about a few blocks away from his home, his courage finally kicked in and he thought that this was simply too pathetic.

He quickly typed a message for Kise and sent it:

"_Yo! What's up? Saw you on the cover of a magazine at the convenience store the other day... It was strange. You looked weird._"

Perhaps he should have had kept his courage chained till his manners had caught up. Right after sending the message he lamented it. It was not just lame but it was also offending to Kise. He had thought of saying things like "_Are you free for a one-on-one this week?_" or "_I have not seen you around, are you doing good?_" but somehow each sounded very needy and the damned pride in him did not allow his fingers to go any near typing such things. So instead he had opted for a white lie.

A white lie, really, because his eyes had wandered to the magazines section in the convenience stores many times in the last few weeks and he caught glimpses of Kise's shining career here and there often. He even had bought a few magazines, one just two weeks ago actually. He did not even really read them; he was not much interested in men's fashion or men's health. But Kise did look good in them and admitting that he bought it simply for that reason was extremely humiliating so he opted to thinking that well... he was just helping his friend's career. Yeah, just that.

Unlike any other time in the past when Kise would reply any message from Aomine in less than five minutes, no replies had come by the time he had made it to home – around ten minutes later. So he put his phone on the table and waited for a bit – for another ten minutes to be exact. Nothing was received. In a fit of frustration he went to his bedroom and started practising his uppercuts with the punching bag he had there. Punching intently and losing yourself in the action was always a great way of both letting time fly away and relieving stress. When he heard the tune of his phone ring, he was already sweaty and his breathing laboured, he had been going at it for more than an hour, not realising just how long it had been... Still, his ears caught the melody right away and he rushed to the living room despite his sore muscles and accelerated heartbeat and respiration – he almost fell actually as his feet tangled up for a second right when he was reaching for his phone. It was very pathetic and he thanked God silently that there had been nobody to witness how he was behaving.

"He-hello"

"Oh I am sorry you are busy, I am sorry, I'll hang up."

"O-oi! Wa-it! I... ah... am... not busy."

He was breathing twice just to utter every vowel and stuttering a little. He should not have kept up such a high pace when training.

"You are... breathing weird so I thought..."

"Ah... No... I... I was training. Punching... bag. Just let me... ah... catch my breath."

"Okay..."

And they stayed silent for a few moments (actually for exactly seven seconds, if either had counted they would know), and Aomine even closed his eyes savouring the pregnant silence between them, a little afraid of what talking would bring but very much thankful that he had gotten to hear Kise's voice again. He sighed loudly as he took inhaled and exhaled a deep breath and started speaking then,

"Okay. Better now. Sorry for that."

"Oh I am sorry for calling you... I should have just sent a message. I just thought... Well, since we had not talked for so long I thought I would call you. You know... to hear your voice."

Aomine could feel a warmth and the sweetest timidity in Kise's voice and it only tugged at his heart, not painfully, no not at all, instead with affection and content,

"Uh... I see."

"So... Um... Oh yeah so you saw me huh? Which magazine was it?"

_Oh shit._

"Well I didn't check out the name to be honest..."

"Yeah I see... Not really your area of interest, is it? Those magazines never really have nude women in them."

_Ouch._

"I am not so shallow that I read only such stuff... Okay may be a little shallow, but not that much. I just don't remember it..."

"I am curious though... I wonder which one was it. How did I look? What was I wearing?"

_Great. Shit._

"Um..." Aomine tried to think of something and that moment he recalled the magazine he bought last month, one about men's health or something, which was still under his bed and it definitely had Kise on it and what was Kise wearing on that cover again?

_Oh... Yeah..._

"You were wearing a navy blue singlet I think... With some loose black sweatpants? I am not good at this stuff you know. It was pretty simple but brand stuff I think."

"Huh? Weird... That's the cover I did for a men's health magazine last month. It was partially to show off a particular brand of sports apparel and also about healthy men's diet, that's why I even had to slightly open my abdomen to show my abs... It was a little weird to be honest."

_Oh, yeah._

The alabaster skin and toned muscle structure exposed scandalously with a few graceful fingers... It had caught Aomine's eyes right away when he saw it at the convenience store and he had felt so awkward and weird even buying the magazine, he could not imagine Kise posing for it.

He did not realise how silent he had gotten until,

"Aominecchi?"

"Uh-huh, yes?"

"I mean that magazine is last month's. It is really weird that you came across it..."

_Damn._

"Yeah maybe they had a few left overs from last month or something? Don't know, it was a small convenience store anyway. Really shabby place. So what's up? How have you been?"

Aomine prayed to any god out there to help him convince Kise to change the subject, it seemed his prayers were heard,

"Nothing much, regular work schedule I guess..."

"Oh really? Since you didn't call I thought you had been busy."

Why was he bringing this up? How had he brought it up? Aomine cursed himself silently as soon as he finished speaking. He could not even imagine himself asking Kise this so how come his lips had pronounced the comment so carelessly and without control.

"Well... I did call you last weekend but your _girlfriend _took the call and you weren't available... Then you didn't say anything and well I thought perhaps I was taking too much of your time away from your girlfriend and also I guess I felt a little guilty about getting you drunk."

"My girlfriend? I don't have a girlfriend!"

_Why is everyone asking the same shit?! Even Kise..._

"Oh you don't? Well a woman received the call when I called you..."

Had Aomine recognised a peculiar interrogative tone in Kise's statement? Was he insinuating something? Or was Aomine imagining things. Then he thought for a second but really, he did not have to ponder long about an answer because there was only one woman who was ever present in his home and would ever be comfortable enough to answer his phone,

"It must have been Satsuki. I kind of messed up big on Saturday morning, I puked and stuff... Hadn't slept either so I got really bad at one point... She took me home and stayed till evening to ensure I was okay."

"Oh... So it was Momoi-san... She took care of you."

It was interesting how Aomine had expected the poison in Kise's tone to disappear after confessing that it was Momoi but somehow the poison remained alive and intact in Kise's tone.

"Yeah?"

"I see..."

There was an awkward silence and he really could not bear it,

"It was not your fault you know."

"What was not?"

"Me getting drunk. Plus you got pretty drunk too. I don't even remember who ended up drinking more. And I was the one who mocked you at the beginning, riled you up and got you involved in the stupid drinking contest... If anybody is to blame it is me."

"I cannot blame you and after all, I did go along with it... with a lot of enthusiasm too. It was stupid."

"Yeah but that's why we have so much fun together, isn't it?"

It was a simple statement and it had no romantic connotations so Aomine wondered why, just why the statement had brought upon a tingling feeling and heat over his face. He could hear the slight chuckle from the other end of the line and hearing Kise's chuckle – however slight or small – relieved him quite a bit.

"It is... I guess."

"How did you deal with it?"

"Oh I just slept till late afternoon really. Then I got up, took some medication, ate a bit, had a shower and all... It was not that bad but I did have a terrible headache. I called you as well but yeah, Momoi-san apparently took the call. Then... Well I wasn't feeling well so I just stayed home. Apart from work, I stayed home mostly this week anyway..."

Aomine felt the hand of guilt pull on his heart but he was not sure why he was feeling guilty. There was nothing to feel guilty about.

"Hmm... Okay..."

Another standstill of silence. He had wanted to hear this man's voice so much, had waited it so much despite all his inner refutations and now they were able to talk but why was he choosing silence? _Something... something to say to Kise._

"I went to a crepe place."

"Huh? Crepes really don't sound like you."

"It was delicious. We went altogether after today's game."

"I see..."

"Want to go?"

"Huh?"

"Want to go have crepes sometime this week? It is so close to the play we normally play basketball too."

"Would you... Would you want to play one-on-one with me this week then?"

"Yeah I guess. Not like I have anything better to do."

"God... Aominecchi, you were the one inviting but now you are the one acting all reluctant, you know."

There was a playfully capricious tone in Kise's words and it not only brought a blush to Aomine but also warmed him up inside; for some reason he found the young man's mercurial mood and childish expressions intensely captivating.

"You are such a child. I bet you are even pouting now."

"So what if I am pouting?! There is no rule that says adults cannot pout... How was your match today by the way?"

"Well I lost."

"Really?! I cannot believe it!"

"Yeah... For some reason I couldn't concentrate at all..."

"Is that so?"

Aomine sensed a hopeful curiosity and subtle pleasure in the way Kise pronounced each vowel in that question; had he caught something that was present or had he just made it up to satisfy his own inner whims? He was unsure, but either way it felt good.

"Yeah." he said, smirking and it was the first time he ever smiled or smirked when talking about a defeat on the court.


	5. Chapter 5

_(**A/N:** I have serious concerns regarding this chapter actually... Sat on it for quite a bit but it doesn't seem like I will be able to improve it for now. So here it is. Hope it is not as poor as I think it is.)_

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><p>"Kagami-kun, I really do not think that this is a good idea."<p>

"Come on. Even Momoi-san agreed."

"It is because she is not the one doing it."

"She would come if she didn't have work."

"You do know that I have work too, right?"

"It is the lunch break."

Kuroko sighed loudly,

"Why do we have to follow him? Maybe he just wanted to have lunch by himself."

"No way. Hearing that I would be meeting with you for lunch but not jumping on the opportunity to hang out together and get me to pay for his lunch? Nope. There is something definitely weird."

"It is unusual, sure, and he has been acting weird... But he is an adult."

"Is he entering the sports complex?"

"Oh... Perhaps he likes to train during his lunch break?"

"No way. Plus we have a training room at the station since we are the district headquarters. And you know how lazy he is better than me. Come on let's go in as well."

"I still don't think this is a good idea."

"Hmm he is going towards the courts?"

"Can they be used during the day freely like that?"

"Well they have courses in the afternoons in certain days but yeah, they are open to members I think, especially at noon."

"So he comes to play basketball in his lunch break? Not expected but not surprising either. Shall we leave now?"

"No way! You know how he complains about even playing with us at the weekends. Why would he come to play basketball during his lunch break?"

"You do realise that he likes playing basketball right? He is usually reluctant out of laziness or his own arrogance. Let's go."

"Well... Doesn't he hate playing by himself?"

"So, he probably plays with others?"

"Yeah but he is not satisfied with playing with weak guys... Right?"

"Oh..."

"Could it be that he found some really strong guy and he plays against him?"

Now this interested Kuroko. He stood there slightly and entertained various possibilities for about 5 minutes, then a glint appeared in his eyes,

"Let's wait for five minutes or so and then go in."

"Hah! Suddenly you are interested?"

"Be quiet Kagami-kun, we should enter carefully or else he may realise us sneak in."

"Whatever."

When they finally pushed the door of the small basketball court that Aomine had entered they witnessed something they had never seen before. A young man probably around the same age as them jumped almost carelessly but at the same time mysteriously meticulously such that his shooting form was completely... formless. It was almost like a copy of one of Aomine's signature moves that defied laws of physics and mocked the limits of human capability. It was particularly strange and one could not help wonder how come Aomine never fell down doing it.

However the man doing it now, though the move looked so peculiarly exact it was at the same time peculiarly different; unlike the bewildering careless free fall of Aomine, with this person it almost looked like as though he was some sort of magical being falling from the heavens. Almost everything about the shoot was perfect too... Except one glaring difference: the end result. Instead of smoothly going through the hoop like every time Aomine pulled it, this time ball missed it with a few millimetres.

"Damn!"

"I told you it was not possible." Aomine snorted,

"Come on Aominecchi! It was almost perfect."

"Almost...? As long as it does not score, it is useless."

"You are so mean you know."

"I am realistic. Plus why are you trying to so hard to copy me? I bet you worked on this like whole night..."

"Quite a few whole nights actually... It is really hard. It is not like copying other things. Tomahawks or windmills were so easy... Why are your weird shots so hard?!"

"Jeez... You know many people play for years but cannot even do those and you have mastered them in just two months. Stop whining. And my shots are not weird."

"Really? Surely I am very talented but I thought anybody would be able to do them..."

"Nah... Tetsu has been playing for years but he has not dunked even once. Well... He is a hobbit so I guess that's half the reason. But Akashi is pretty short too and he can dunk."

"I am not a hobbit Aomine-kun."

Aomine jumped in surprise to see a scowling Kuroko who cleared his throat rather loudly and a Kagami palming his face in what seemed to be part embarrassment and part surprise.

"What the hell are you two doing here?!"

"What are _you_ doing here?"

Kuroko asked his face slightly moving to the side in a questioning manner at which Aomine gulped. There was no escape now. Not that he specifically wanted to avoid introducing Kise to his friends. He had deemed it inevitable. But he had simply enjoyed being the sole basketball idol in Kise's life so much and had almost regarded their time together on the court as some kind of a special place only for them... Now that he thought about it, it sounded really corny.

"Playing basketball, duh."

He shook his shoulders and tried to look as unfazed as possible. He was fazed deep inside though, Kuroko and Kagami meeting Kise meant Momoi meeting Kise which would inevitably lead to Midorima and Akashi and thus Murasakibara knowing Kise. Anything Midorima knew, Takao would know which meant even Takao would know Kise. It was not that he was jealous or possessive but the possibilities of the complexities the new set of relationships would introduce just bothered him to no end... How nice would it be if he could just get to spend time with Kise alone, play basketball with him... Yes, he was being awfully corny, in a very uncharacteristically and untimely youthful manner too.

"With a friend, I see." Kuroko said and turned to Kise who was smiling like a child without a single care in the world as he played with the ball in his hands,

"Kuroko Tetsuya. I am an old friend of Aomine-kun."

"Kise Ryouta. I heard a lot from Aominecchi about you actually."

"Ao-Aominecchi?! Hahaha..." Kagami burst into laughter and Aomine glared, his cheeks donning a particular red shade, Kuroko just looked at Kagami disapprovingly and Kise gave a confused look.

"And this is Kagami Taiga. He is Aomine's partner at work. We are all friends."

"Oh I heard about you too! You are the guy who won against Aominecchi in high school the first time, aren't you?"

Kise's eyes turned a little narrower as he pronounced the last part and a strange tone settled in his otherwise amicable voice. Both Aomine and Kagami missed it, Kuroko did not and it piqued his interested too.

"Kagami and Tetsu, did. Alone he is useless..."

"Oi! Arrogant words coming from a guy who miserably lost to me on court just this weekend."

Aomine shook his shoulders in indifference,

"Again, it was you and Tetsu. And it was just a fluke."

"Yes, somehow every time Aomine-kun loses it turns out to be 'just a fluke'."

Kuroko's sarcastic comment seemed to enjoy Kise quite a bit for he chuckled and Aomine gave a dirty look at him then he turned back to Kuroko,

"Well none of that explains why you are here though?"

"Oh... Well... We... Um..." Kagami had always been a terrible liar and it took all the strength Kuroko had to just not hide his face in shame then. He himself was not the best of liars but his neutrally indifferent facial expression did help a lot; a great poker face.

"We met for lunch and were walking near when I realised my yearly membership was about to end. So I came to renew it."

"Hmm... Didn't know you had a yearly membership here? It is rather far from your house."

"But we do play here every weekend and it is close to Kagami-kun's work so we both have membership here. Plus they have a great olympic-size swimming pool."

"They do?!"

"You didn't know?"

"Not at all! I live relatively close too but I used to always go to the training centre suggested by my agency... Wow I can't believe there is an olympic-size swimming pool so close by! I should definitely try it out. Aominecchi, we should definitely try it out!"

"We?"

"Yeah. It will be good for your body. You keep complaining about sore muscles."

"Isn't more physical activity going to make it worse?"

"It is different when you are in water. It is calming and it is not like we are going to train for competitive swimming or something. It helps to the mood too you know, you are always scowling."

"I am not always scowling. I don't know man... I think I would prefer sleeping."

"You sleep too much!"

"No I don't."

"Yes you do! When I call you, 80% of the time you receive the call yawning."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do!"

In the midst of their bickering they had completely forgotten Kuroko and Kagami's existence and it rather endeared the scene to Kuroko even further. It was going to be even more entertaining once Momoi learnt of this.

_So Aomine made a friend... By himself and somebody so unlike him too... Well, in most aspects at least._

He cleared his throat to remind the duo of their presence to which Aomine reacted like a teenager caught doing something childish whereas Kise was slightly pouting.

"Well it was good to see you Aomine-kun. Nice to meet you as well Kise-san. I think we can take our leave now."

"Oh you guys don't want to stick around? We could play basketball."

There was some honest disappointment in Kise's voice,

"We don't have proper clothing with us and my stamina is not good enough to play a game with these guys and then go back to work to be honest."

"That's too bad... I would like to play against you, to be honest. I have heard quite a bit from Aominecchi so I am curious."

Kuroko knew that Kagami was already tingling with anticipation and would not mind running around the court now in his formal attire but it was truly not the time so he held on to Kagami's arm to ensure the other would not jump at the offer,

"We are sorry but we will have to decline. Right, Kagami-kun? But if you would like, we would be more than glad to have you play with us this weekend?"

"Really?"

The way Kise's eyes shone so bright one would assume he was given a large sum of money or received the love confession of his life, not an offer of playing basketball.

"Definitely. If Aomine-kun also agrees, of course."

"Sure, whatever." Aomine dismissively agreed; part of him was happy to show off his new friend's peculiar skills to his old buddies but part of him was frustrated that he would have to share Kise with them... Probably the whole day too since Momoi would also be there. He knew deep inside of him that the two would probably hit it off very well given their personalities and hobbies.

"Good. We will see you later then."

"Ah! But it would be so good if you could stay... Aominecchi was going to take me to this crepe place too."

Kagami's eyebrow rose in surprise and suspicion whereas Kuroko's normally senseless eyes donned a glint of amusement,

"Is that so? How unlike him. Well, next time, perhaps? Thanks for the offer! See you."

"See you."

Once they were a couple of metres away and by the door of the court Kagami whispered as silently as he could,

"Wasn't that weird? Was he weird... with him? I don't know. It felt weird."

"Oh it was not weird at all." Kuroko said as he took out his mobile from the pocket of his jeans and started typing a message,

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I am. I have known Aomine-kun longer you know."

"So? What is the verdict? What is this all about?"

"It is really simple, actually. He fancies Kise-san."

"He does what?!"

Kuroko chuckled instead of saying anything about Kagami's surprised expression while he sent the message he typed to Momoi:

"We were right, he is infatuated with somebody. And I think you will really like this person too."


	6. Chapter 6

_(__**A/N**__: This baby was a little harder to give birth to than others but I am finally satisfied with it. More colloquial than anything I've ever written probably but it is fun. I adore Kagami being a perplexed American at times and Kise being a foxy devil at the right moment. Comments, like always, are highly appreciated and sought-after!)_

* * *

><p>"Ah that was fun."<p>

"You look like shit though."

"Ugh Aominecchi, do you have to put it that way? Of course I look bad, I am tired."

"Yeah you pretty much lost to everyone."

"I didn't lose to Kurokocchi!"

"On a one-on-one, you have to suck really _really_ bad to lose to Tetsu. I think even Satsuki would win against him."

"Yeah, he is rather bad in solo play... It made me underestimate him but damn when he is with Kagamicchi, they are so cool."

"_Kagamicchi_?"

"Yeah? I mean, wow, I respect him a lot you know. Even though he has a big build, he is so agile and he can jump so well."

"I am the most agile. And I can jump very well."

"Well yeah but he can jump too high. I was shocked because it is as if he's flying. It is so cool. And he _can_ keep up with you. He defeated me ruthlessly but I was so hyped up, it was both sad and exhilarating."

"He is... okay... I guess."

"_Okay_? Come on. He is great! And he is so kind and cool too. A little rash and rude, sure, but he is kind. He gives the angelic aura. And on top of that he plays so well."

"You know if you would like you can just get him to play with you."

"Huh?"

"If you think he is _that _good. He is totally crazy about basketball too. I'd much prefer sleep than play one-on-ones with you endlessly but he would be up for it any time..."

While Kise first pouted at the statement, in an exaggerated manner too, soon he burst out laughing.

"What? What's so funny?"

"Are you serious?"

"Serious about what?"

"Me playing one-on-one with Kagamicchi instead of you?"

"Why not... If you think he is _so good_. And _so kind_. And what not... bullshit."

The statement only caused Kise to laugh harder,

"I can't believe you Aominecchi."

"Why?"

"I mean... Aren't you obviously the better player?"

"For sure! But it seems he got your interest, so..."

"Well yeah, because he _is_ a good player and I would love to play one-on-one with him too, but not instead of playing against you. I enjoy playing against you the most. Plus as I said, you are _the best_."

Oh how lovely those words caressed the overgrown ego of Aomine Daiki... His much irritating smirk of arrogance settled comfortable on his lips,

"Yeah, I am obviously better. But since you started talking shit like 'Kagami this', 'Kagami that' I thought... Perhaps you have a thing for redheads for something."

"Well, I don't mind redheads..."

There was a certain playfulness in Kise's tone that greatly annoyed Aomine to the degree that he felt a particular prickling feeling on his ego... and heart.

"Oh so you are into redheads... Go ahead then. Kagami is into men."

"I would rather say he is into Kurokocchi. I mean it is so ridiculously obvious. The way he picked up the completely-spent Kurokocchi from the ground at the end especially... I was like wow. Now _that_ is a caring boyfriend."

But this did not help Aomine get rid of that itchy prickle on his ego... and heart,

"Oh so you would go for him if he wasn't taken?"

Kise slightly moved closer to Aomine as they walked in the same slow pace and he made a long "hmm" sound, dramatically mimicking some deep pondering,

"Nah, I don't think so. He is close to my type but not really so. Plus if I am going to regret anything regarding that couple, it would be Kurokocchi. He is so cute and great. I was so stupid to underestimate him at the beginning."

"Wait... So your type is Tetsu?"

Aomine felt as though he had just received a punch to his face; he felt numb and stupid. Kagami, he could imagine Kise inclining to, but Kuroko? The worst part was that while his own body type could be akin to Kagami's, it was nothing like Kuroko's. If Kise was seriously into the type Kuroko has, Aomine was already disqualified. This did not feel good.

Luckily Kise simply laughed at that question and explained right away,

"Obviously not, stupid. I just meant in the sense that... you know, he is the type of guy you would just love to fawn over and be close friends with. But it seems both his best friend and lover slots are occupied by the same guy. They were like Siamese twins, are they always so stuck together?"

"Mm... Pretty much. Yeah."

"Must be hard for you? Seems you were his closest friend before?"

"Yeah I guess in Middle School I was. But then I hurt him pretty bad too. I was a stupid kid at times... Kagami is good for him. You know. As a friend and as a boyfriend."

"And I am sure he is good for Kagamicchi too..."

"So neither of them is your type?"

"Do _you_ want to know my type?"

An unhidden suggestive tone shone on each syllable and Aomine shook his shoulders, doing his best to seem as indifferent as possible,

"Nah just making small talk since you started talking about this shit."

Kise chuckled,

"Yeah, I didn't think you would be interested."

Well, he thought he would not be interested either but at this point Aomine could not ignore the fact that he was interested. Damn interested. He had not gotten a definite answer and all the fawning over Kagami had seriously disturbed him but he had at least gotten the hint that Kise swung that way. Perhaps he swung other ways too, but Aomine couldn't care less, as long as the blond was interested in men, he was fair game.

While Kise still seemed cheerful and hummed a song quietly as they walked towards their homes, which shared the same route for at least another ten minutes or so, silence ensued. It was not suffocating but neither was sure how to continue considering where in the conversation they had stopped. Aomine cleared his throat as quietly as he could trying to find a topic to start but as he continued on failing, Kise spoke,

"So when will you be available to play this week? I really want to play as much as I can. I still have so much to learn. I can't keep on getting my ass whipped by Kagamicchi you know."

"I am swamped this week. I will work the weekend shifts too, I'm only free on Thursday "

"Ah... I see... I am off on Thursday too but I kind of promised Momocchi that I would take her shopping."

"Wait, what?"

"She asked about my style and stuff and we chatted a bit about fashion during my break... When you were playing against Kagamicchi and Kurokocchi. We decided that it would be cool to go shopping together."

"Do you know how long she shops? You're gonna die."

"I should be fine, I actually don't mind shopping. I enjoy it especially if I am with a good friend and Momocchi is awesome. Now I understand why she is your best friend."

"Yeah..."

After a few seconds of silence, Kise spoke again, his voice strangely a little strained,

"Um... Would you still like to meet? On Thursday? Our shopping will probably finish late afternoon... So I should have the evening free."

"Nah we can't play in the evening. The sports complex will be closed by then. If weather was better we could play outside but it keeps raining and one never knows when..."

"Well, we don't necessarily have to play basketball, you know. I thought perhaps Aominecchi would like to go somewhere to eat or go see a film or something. If you don't have other plans for the evening, of course."

Now, this was a development. Sure they had eaten before, sure they had shopped together, sure they had gotten drunk together before... But the activities shared had always been either before or after a round of basketball; they were mere complements to basketball. Aomine felt a certain giddiness but kept his disinterested face,

"Nah... I'll probably just sleep till afternoon. So why not."

"Wow cool, yeah, we can just meet and then decide what to do on Wednesday then?"

"Sure."

* * *

><p>The whole week till Thursday he obsessively measured every passing hour, often finding his eyes drift to the nearest item that showed date and or time, his mobile phone, his wrist watch... If he had thought that time had passed abnormally slowly till Thursday, it seemed to him as though it had come to a standstill on Thursday. Counting hours became counting every half hours, every quarter hours, every ten minutes... Bored sighs, lingering looks at his wardrobe, lazying around in the house... At one point around the noon he felt extremely frustrated with himself as the whole situation signalled something quite alien to him.<p>

Had he ever been like this before?

This expectant of something? Well, yes, in actuality he had been this expectant of something. Of basketball games, either to play or to watch. Of launches of new photobooks of his favourite idols. Of announcements of a new pair of basketball shoes he would swear to buy. Even if he was not a bubbly blond who reacted at anything and everything with great emotions, even if he was disinterested in most things in life, even if he preferred his own company and silence most of the time... He was human and like everyone else he had his own hobbies and likings and there had obviously been times that he had felt so expectant and enthusiastic of something, wait for hours and days and weeks for something in excitement and anticipation.

"Of something".

"For something".

"Something".

The point is, he had never been like this _for someone_. And this was the part that frustrated him in the core. It was not that he had not been excited in anticipation of a possible sexual relation, sure his blood flowed hot and fast when he left a bar at night with a beautiful lady in his arms. This was not the same short-sighted and short-lived enthusiasm though. This particular kind of anticipation was akin to a slow working poison than the temporary hot flushes of sexual incitement, it spread slowly but conquered every spot it spread thoroughly. It lasted long and never faded. It was not the premise of the bodily satisfaction he would gain that overwhelmed him in anticipation but the existence of one specific person and the possibility of seeing that person, spending time with that person, breathing the same air with that person... These very thoughts were vexing for him, so very strange that he felt useless and confused. The best person to talk about it with was probably Satsuki but if he did talk about it with her, she would want to assist and she would create elaborate plans and strategies and likely they would help yet somehow he so desperately wanted to reach Kise by his own hands. By his own might and his own alone.

Frustrated sighs and continuous self-shaming did not stop him from trying to do his best to take the matter into his own hands; afternoon came and after a quick shower he further examined his wardrobe.

What do you wear when you are dressing up specially for a specific person and with the goal of impressing them yet you also want to convey to them the message that "I did not dress specially for you or to look good for you"? It was tough to look good such that it looked you somehow effortlessly looked good. It did not make sense to him and already he felt the signs of a headache blare in his skull, an ill omen he tried his best to ignore.

He decided on his simple black leather jacket (because it was not formal yet showcased his good looks in the best way possible), a dark purple t-shirt (because when they had gone to shopping Kise had mentioned that dark purple looked good and regal on Aomine), and a pair of loose fit dark coloured jeans (because he hated ironing and his ironing skills sucked).

Even though most regarded March to be a month of Spring in Aomine's book, _hell_, it was nowhere near Spring. The early evening weather was cooler than he expected and while he congratulated himself on his choice of the leather jacket which kept him warm, he still cursed the weather because he was itching for some good streetball and though he would not mind playing in this weather, he knew frequent plays outside in a weather like this would end up with him in the bed with an untimely cold. His stamina and immunity were good but not limitless. Kise had earlier met with Momoi at a well known mall apparently and had asked Aomine to meet him at a coffee shop close to the mall. He had said that he would be left alone to himself by then. Aomine did not ask whether or not Kise had informed Momoi of this little... _outing_ of theirs. He knew Kise had not for if he had, Momoi would have bugged Aomine all week with all sorts of inquiries into his... private life. Though he did not necessarily want to categorise Kise as such yet, or rather he was afraid to, he very much wanted to be private with him and thus could not avoid Kise being... a part of his privacy. A big part by now actually. How had that happened? He would never know. Perhaps Kise had special powers at gradually eating away a person's defences and making them like him. Aomine hoped these powers only worked on himself and his ridiculous moment of jealousy irked himself significantly.

It took him a subway ride and half an hour to finally reach their meeting point, he was five minutes late but that was okay. He assumed Kise would already be there and not mind waiting five or ten minutes, it was as if he knew the other so well, as if they had spent so much time together in the past... They had not. This kind of unfounded familiarity was both warming and frightening. He found the coffee shop rather easily and just as he was about a metre away from its door, he saw Kise beyond the glass wall of the medium sized shop, sitting at a table right near the said glass wall. He wore a light blue button down shirt and a simple pair of sand brown slacks, what accentuated his simple looks were the glasses he wore; rimmed slightly thick and in a dark shade of blue. He was engrossed on what seemed like a magazine on his table, his eyes stuck and his gaze hovering over the page, now and then almost out of reflex his hand rose with the small paper cup of coffee it held and Kise would take a sip... After every sip he lightly licked his own lips. An unintended gesture. Then at one point, perhaps he read something particularly interesting because his eyebrows furrowed a little and his faced angled very slightly on one side.

Aomine stood there and watched, perhaps for a whole minute or so. When he blinked a few times to bring himself to earth and scold silently in his head for this felt wrong (_and right _at the same time, his heart claimed, but he simply metaphorically glared at his own heart). A sigh to gain enough strength to put an end to his rather innocent yet somehow inappropriate voyeurism, he stomped through the door.

Kise's eyes fluttered to the door almost in synch, perhaps he had felt the slightly cold breeze from its opening, and upon seeing Aomine's figure a pleasant smile blossomed in his face and he waved cheerfully to catch Aomine's attention even though Aomine was already making a beeline to his table.

"Hello there!"

"Hi."

"I love your jacket!"

"Just an old one..."

"Well it looks very good on you!"

It was not exactly an old one and Aomine was well aware that it looked very good, for it was the precise reason why he had worn it in the first place. He did not allow the burgeoning self-satisfaction show on his face and kept his aloof allure,

"The weather is still too cold to go out without a jacket, so..."

Though, perhaps making up excuses about it made his hidden intents rather obvious... But he was not skilled enough in this game to be perfectly smooth about it, Kise frowned as he gave a glance outside,

"You don't like Spring?"

"Does _this_ count as Spring? If so, no I don't."

"You always complain of cold weather... I bet your favourite season is Summer."

"Oh now do you?"

"Yes. You can play streetball as much as you'd like outside. You probably complain about hot weather too though. I bet you were a kid who loved outdoors and Summer. Running around all the time having adventures, catching grasshoppers and crickets all day."

Aomine simply smirked,

"And I bet you were nothing like that?"

"Well I was a very active kid and I played outside, had friends, I was much skilled in sports too... But I also got dressed up by my older sisters in various outfits, including cosplay and princess dresses and they would take photographs of me... And I am a little icky with many insects and bugs. So yes, at the end, we were probably nothing alike."

For some reason the idea of a tiny Kise being dressed up and made pretty, striking up poses sounded ridiculously cute to Aomine, though the smile it brought to his face was a little mocking for he did not want to be caught up daydreaming about how cute a child Kise probably had been.

"Yup, I am pretty sure we were nothing alike. Not that we are much alike now..."

Aomine stood up then and Kise gave a significant pout,

"There are things we both like... And where are you going? I hope you didn't come to just see my beautiful face and then disappear?"

Aomine snorted,

"Yeah sure. I am going to get a tea, you are still drinking your coffee right? It's not finished? We can go eating after we've finished our drinks."

"Oh... Okay... Sure..."

Aomine could see the comfort that settled on the blond's face and as he turned around to walk towards the queue of people waiting to order he paused for a second,

"Mainly crayfish and cicadas actually."

"Huh?"

"I liked catching crayfish and cicadas. Not so much crickets or grasshoppers. They are ugly and they jump fast."

Kise burst into laughter and Aomine silently chuckled to himself as he moved to get his tea.

It took him more than five minutes to get a simple cup of black tea and he was not very pleased with that fact, what caught his interest right as he arrived back to their table was how Kise had been engrossed in the magazine once again.

"You're reading something interesting?"

"Oh, didn't realise you were back."

"Yeah it took goddamn long... So what is it?"

"Um nothing important."

"Really? Your eyes seemed pretty stuck to it when I had entered and just now too..."

"It is silly really..." and Kise smiled as he moved to turn the cover of the magazine over but Aomine was faster at grabbing it,

"Oh. It's Horikita Mai. Shit. Is this new? How come I didn't know of this?!"

"Well it is a women's magazine..."

"It is?"

Aomine turned the cover and indeed, it had been a relatively well known one too,

"Yeah... It is an issue about being sexy and they did an interview with her about her style and mannerisms etc... You know like tips on being sexy. Since she is known for that."

"Hmm I see... But then what are you doing with it? Don't tell me you are trying to get some tips? I don't think they would work on you."

Kise gave an irritated glare to Aomine's smirk,

"Yeah, I think her particular brand of sexiness depends too much on certain... materials that I peculiarly lack."

Aomine burst into laughter at that and Kise just sighed,

"Armani is launching its new fragrance and I'll be the face of the one for men in Japan. They have a very sexy campaign in mind and the first teaser is published in this magazine alongside their website. Timing was perfect..."

"Oh so that's why you have the magazine?"

"Yeah. Wanna see?"

Kise enthusiastically turned the pages to the ad which showed him in an attire that seemed like a European prince's or general's from 18th century; his blue uniform was adorned with various insignia on the chest as well as golden epaulettes, he wore tight cream coloured breeches that deliciously emphasised his toned legs with long canvas gaiters, a sheathed sword lay on the side visible under his waist. On his hand was a deep brown riding crop. There was no hat on his head and instead his hair perfectly combed back exposed the delicately handsome features of his face. The photograph was focused on him and was cropped such that only half of his figure was seen, the right side of his body completely absent, the blurry darkness behind him as well as the intense gaze in his honey orbs all contributed to a mysterious aura. Aomine had to admit that it was rather enticing and noted how uniforms seemed to do wonders on Kise's appearance. He would never admit these to Kise of course.

"It is..."

"Sexy right?"

"Um weird?"

"What?!"

"I don't know. I guess you look good? Kind of like a prince?"

"I am supposed to be a soldier of olden times... You know beautiful but threatening at the same time, thus sexy."

"You don't look threatening to me?"

"How do I not look threatening? Come on! Look at how intense my gaze is. Plus I have a weapon, look at that huge sword."

"Well your _huge sword_ is too fancy and looks more like an ornament than a weapon to me."

Aomine said snickering, fully aware of the double entendre and as expected Kise's cheeks donned a pink blush but he was not going to relent,

"I even have a riding crop!"

"Yes, to ride a horse. It does not count as a weapon."

Aomine mumbled still looking at the full page photo ad lying in front of him. Then suddenly, Kise reached forward and grabbed the magazine, causing Aomine's attention to turn to him and realise that he had leaned in, their faces only inches apart, a challenging sharp gaze directed at Aomine from his golden eyes that glinted in an alluring way,

"You are saying that only because you have never seen me handle a crop."

His voice was low and stirring and Aomine swallowed slightly for a second losing his line of thought and not knowing how to respond. Kise rolled the magazine in his hand and as he moved back to his seat his usual gleeful smile returned to his face,

"So, you are hungry right? I know this amazing Korean restaurant. You up for some?"

"Yeah..."

Aomine mumbled a little unsure what he had unleashed a moment ago and part of him desperately wanted to unleash it again, while part of him was adamant that it was "_too early for that_".

* * *

><p>"It was <em>not<em> a date."

"It was a date!"

Aomine sighed dejectedly.

"Why did I even tell you?"

"Oh as if you actually told me."

"Why did I even tell to Bakagami, knowing he is such a loudmouth!"

"Oi! I am not a loudmouth. And you did not tell me it was with him."

"He did not have to tell you it was with him, Kagami-kun. He said he was 'out with a friend' and that pretty much gives it away."

"Really? I mean until you told me I didn't really think it was Kise you know..."

Momoi and Kuroko sighed almost in synch,

"You are an angel Kagami."

"Huh? Why would you say that Momoi-san?"

"Because you are an angel Kagami-kun. To even assume that Aomine-kun could have other friends than us. Kise being the only and unbelievable exception."

"Oi! What do you mean by that?"

"He means what is already obvious: you are an obnoxious jerk more often than not and there are really few people who could ignore that."

"Okay that was mean Satsuki."

"Well you are nice in your own way it is just that one has to go through too much struggle to reach and even come to know that kindness so..."

Aomine simply glared at that and though he started hoping that perhaps he had been successful in changing the subject, Kuroko's next comment proved him wrong,

"So, it _was_ a date."

"No it was not. I don't understand why you have to label it like that?!"

"Because Dai-chan, he asked you out on a day where you were both free and you went to dinner with him and then you two saw a film together."

"And you want to sleep with him."

That last bit Kuroko added caused a slight blush on Momoi's face but Aomine preferred to ignore that last statement as a whole,

"I get asked out and go to places with you or with Tetsu or hell, with Kagami! And we eat together and we go the cinema together and actually we just ate... We literally just ate together."

"But you do not want to sleep with us."

"Tetsu, I swear to God..."

"I hope at least not with Kagami-kun. That would upset me."

Aomine's yelling of "Tetsu!" was only eclipsed by a loud roar of "Kuroko!", courtesy of a furiously red Kagami.

"Now that, _that_ was mean." Momoi said chuckling and Kuroko could not help giggle a little.

"Do something about him man. Do something." Aomine turned to Kagami who replied back, his voice shaking a little and his face still crimson,

"He is _your _friend. You do something about it."

"Or, Dai-chan could just be honest with himself and with us?"

"I concur. That seems to me like the easiest option as well."

"But I am being honest. It was not a date. He... did not say it was a date."

"Oh so that's it Dai-chan! That is why you are rather bittersweet about it! You enjoyed it but you are unsure that it was a date!"

"I- I mean..."

"Don't worry Aomine-kun, I can guarantee you it was a date." Kuroko's voice was as calm and monotone as ever and thus impossible to discern whether he was being sarcastic or not.

"Why do you think that?"

"Because it is already obvious that Kise-san likes you."

"But there are different kinds of liking someone." Kagami chimed in as if to emphasise an important point which only made Aomine feel like throwing his empty glass at him. He opted for a snide and rather loud comment accompanied with a glare,

"I am aware of that!"

"Don't be mean to Kagami Dai-chan!"

"Yes, especially when he is so kind to even think that you are able to make friends outside your initial circle of basketball buddies."

"Tetsu, you know you are such a little piece of shit sometimes. And Kagami, glaring at me for saying that will not change the truth of what I am saying – I invite you to re-think the stuff he uttered only like a minute ago."

Kagami averted his gaze and Kuroko smiled, he was amused, his hand moved over to Kagami's under the table and his tone turned a little more compassionate this time when he spoke,

"You are oblivious to most things around you that has nothing to do with your job or basketball so perhaps that's why you haven't noticed but the way Kise-san acts towards others is very different than the way he acts towards you. He idolises you that much is certain. He likes you that is certain too and Kagami-kun is right in that there are many ways one can like another. But I think he is interested in you romantically because he dons this particular smile of joy whenever you touch him knowingly or unknowingly. His voice changes its tone a little, he is childish but he is more careful about it when he is talking with you which is strange because he knew you more than us so how come he is even more of a brat with us? So then perhaps those antics are not necessarily out of proximity but his honest reluctance or seriousness with you is about proximity, or a lack thereof that he would like to change?"

Aomine thought for a moment, seriously, his eyebrows furrowed and when he spoke his voice was a little doubtful and lacking in self-confidence which was quite shocking for others at the table,

"You... you think so?"

"Oh My God! Finally! He is so cute when he is in love and all self-conscious! Do you know how long I have waited for this moment Dai-chan?! Do you?"

Momoi hurled herself in a hug to Aomine who was partially amused and partially irritated and thus was able to only direct a mock glare at her.

"It is rather endearing. We should have sekihan."

"I swear to God Tetsu..."

"But we really should have sekihan."

"I could prepare some tonight if you'd like? Did you crave it or something?" Kagami asked Kuroko, very serious and innocent, which only caused rest of the gang to burst into laughter, including Kuroko though his would be more accurately described as quiet chuckling.

"What? Did I say something wrong? Why are you all laughing at me?!"


End file.
